Waging War on the Web War Waging Amazing Internships Summer 2010 Summer Non-Profit Org

MAGAZINE Chasing Tales

Albin O. Kuhn (1916-2010)

Waging War on the Web War Waging Amazing Internships Summer 2010 Summer Non-Profit Org. Non-Profit Postage U.S. PAID Printing Co. Watkins Times vary, UMBC Campus Times fever? the Do This you have year’s than be to better homecoming promises plenty – and culture sports, with ever, of food! www.umbc.edu/homecoming AUGUST Stadium Ripken at UMBC Night 28 August Saturday, 7:05 p.m. Game 6 p.m., Party Bullpen Aberdeen Stadium, Ripken of night a to family whole the Bring Aberdeen the featuring ball league minor Lake Vermont the versus IronBirds $ game. the after Fireworks Monsters. retrievernet.umbc.edu/ironbirds SAVE THE DATE – UMBC Fever Retriever 2010 Homecoming October 14-16

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retrievernet.umbc.edu/baseball register early. O’s promotional giveaway. $ giveaway. promotional O’s early. register New York Mets. Space is limited, Space so please Mets. York New night of baseball as the Orioles take on the night the on of baseball take Orioles as the Camden Yards, Baltimore Camden Yards, a for UMBC Association the Join Alumni Bullpen Party 5:35 p.m., Game 7:05 p.m. Game 5:35 p.m., Party Bullpen UMBC Night at Camden Yards Camden at UMBC Night 12 June Saturday, JUNE

UMBC MAGAZINE Maryland, Baltimore County University of Circle 1000 Hilltop 21250 Baltimore, MD ALUMNI EVENTS ALUMNI Whatever you choose to SUPPORT...

The UMBC community mourns the passing of Albin O. Kuhn (left), Your academic the university’s founding department chancellor. A single deserving student Courtesy of University Archives, 07 UMBC

Your favorite sports team

…makes a big difference to UMBC!

When you were a student at UMBC, you probably didn’t spend much time thinking about annual giving. More likely, you spent your hours studying, working, and thinking about your future. Like most students, you were concentrating on the days and months before you – not leaving a legacy.

With hindsight, however, your perceptions have likely broadened. You know now how an education at UMBC made your life better over the years. You also understand that not only is it easy to make a lasting mark on your alma mater – it is vital to the future of UMBC.

Alumni donations to the Annual Fund directly support initiatives that make the university stronger. Whether you make a gift to your department, student scholarships, an athletics team – or to the university as a whole – your gift matters to UMBC.

www.umbc.edu/exceptional

Don’t forget to make your gift by June 30th to be included in the next Donor Honor Roll! www.umbc.edu/magazine CONTENTS

Internships are a key part of a UMBC education. And departments sometimes, a challenging and timely internship can change a career trajectory. We talk with four UMBC To You 2 alumni whose internships helped rocket them to From You 3 success. By Meredith Purvis, Derek Roper ’11 and Erika Shernoff Up on the Roof 4 14

Campus Treasure 5 Turn to Earn

The News 6

At Play 8 As a journalist and an author, UMBC English professor Christopher Discovery 10 Corbett has a knack for finding marvelous and How To 36 mislaid stories past and present – from the Pony Express to the Poker Bride Class Notes 38 to Polock Johnny. By Rafael Alvarez Then & Now 46 22 Over Coffee 48 Chasing Tales

How UMBC is pushing the frontiers of research and training in cyber security – and keeping its own networks safe from attacks. By Joab Jackson ’90 on the cover 30 Mouse grenade photo illustration by Aaron Goodman. Battlefield of Bits and Bytes

Visit UMBC Magazine online at www.umbc.edu/magazine for plenty of web extras! Thoughts, complaints, suggestions about UMBC Magazine? Get in touch at [email protected]. UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

2 TO YOU

It’s no secret that these are tough economic times. So what advantages do UMBC students have in the struggle to find and secure a career? o u r s t a f f The great education that they receive at UMBC is one Editor asset. But the strength of the university’s commitment to Richard Byrne ’86 securing internship opportunities is another head start that Associate Editor UMBC students have in the job hunt. Jenny O’Grady As UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, points out in our “Up on the Roof ” feature (Page 4), the university works hard to nurture Design Director Jim Lord ’99 relationships with potential employers in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. He also emphasizes the number of opportunities that UMBC has created on campus, observing Designers that over 2,000 students gain work experience on the campus itself each year. Michelle Jordan ’93 Erin Ouslander ’03 In this issue, we’re spotlighting the power of internships to shape and even transform Melissa Van der Kaay one’s career aspirations and trajectory. In “Turn to Earn” (Page 14), we feature the stories of four UMBC alumni whose internships took them in a much different direction than they UMBC News Staff may have planned for themselves at the outset of their time at UMBC. B. Rose Huber Kavan Peterson It’s no accident that three of the four alumni we profile obtained their internships from UMBC’s Shriver Center. The center is a powerhouse for applied learning on campus, Contributing Writers placing 1,300 students into internships each year and winning high marks from students Rafael Alvarez and employers for its efforts. (Can you help The Shriver Center place a student? You can David Driver Joab Jackson ’90 contact the center at [email protected] or 410-455-2493.) Sharon Knecht ’99, ’03 M.A. The mentoring efforts of UMBC faculty also play a huge role in giving students a leg Meredith Purvis up on internships and other networking opportunities. Jeff Seidel ’85 Christopher Corbett, author and professor of the practice in the English department, Erika Shernoff is just such a mentor for his students and the college journalists at UMBC. Noted author Joel N. Shurkin and screenwriter Rafael Alvarez (The Wire, Homicide: Life on the Street) profiles Corbett Editorial Intern in this issue of UMBC Magazine (Page 26), and his piece traces Corbett’s path to success Derek Roper ’11 working at local newspapers in Maine and at the Associated Press in Baltimore. Contributing Photographers These days, Corbett is imparting the lessons of those years in the journalism trenches Tracey Brown to a new generation of students – through his classes and his job as faculty advisor to The Aaron Goodman Retriever Weekly. And it is Corbett who has helped many of his charges – including Jamie Howard Korn Smith-Hopkins ’98 of The Baltimore Sun, who is also profiled in our piece on life-changing Jim Lord ’99 Melissa Van der Kaay internships – get their foot in the door at media outlets with a timely call to an editor. “My experience has been that work begets work,” Corbett tells me. “Which I think Administration is a truism of the trade. I’m sure you’ve known people who’ve had an internship and then Greg Simmons ’04, M.P.P. somebody got drunk or ran off with the donut shop waitress, and then somebody got a Vice President, Institutional Advancement job because they were there and these things happen.” Miriam Tillman Corbett adds that “my philosophy about internships is that I only send out someone Assistant Vice President, Marketing & when they’re road-tested…. This isn’t complicated. And, historically, it’s led to people Creative Services finding jobs.” Sandra Dzija Director, Alumni Relations & Annual Giving The UMBC community is also mourning the passing of the university’s founding chancellor, Albin Owings Kuhn, on March 24. Our feature on Chancellor Kuhn’s legacy can be found in the “News” For information on the Alumni Association, section on Page 7. A memorial service for Chancellor Kuhn will be held on Sunday, May 23 at 2 p.m. in please visit http://retrievernet.umbc.edu or the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery. A reception will follow. call 410-455-ALUM.

— Richard Byrne ’86 For information on giving to UMBC, please contact the Annual Fund at 410-455-2210 or visit www.umbc.edu/exceptional. www.umbc.edu/magazine

FROM YOU 3

UMBC Magazine welcomes your letters I really like the physical texture – I suppose autism, without condescending to “explain” to the editor on any issue related to the you could say – of the magazine as well. I Ne’eman to the reader, and without content of the magazine. Readers can e-mail am relocating to Virginia, just across the inserting conciliatory language to smooth comments to [email protected]. Faxed Potomac, soon, and now I want to go back over Ne’eman’s experience, beliefs, and comments are accepted at 410-455-1889. and visit the UMBC area, and try the passionate advocacy for autistic people and Readers can also send letters to “Letters to Indian Delight restaurant! all people with disabilities. The absence of the Editor,” UMBC Magazine, 1000 Hilltop Thank you very much for the magazine. the obligatory interview with someone who takes a position opposed to Ne’eman’s Circle, Administration Building, Baltimore, — Marian Condray Hunter ’75, German was refreshing. Kudos to Edelson, the MD 21250. magazine, and to the photographer, who has taken what I consider to be the finest MORE THAN MONEY AUDITING AUTISM photographs of Ne’eman I have seen. Editor’s Note: President Barack Obama’s — Paula C. Durbin-Westby recent nomination of Ari Ne’eman, a UMBC Board of Directors senior profiled in the Winter 2009 issue of The Autistic Self Advocacy Network UMBC Magazine to a seat on the National Council on Disability drew this letter from one of the members of the board of directors WE GET KUDOS for The Autistic Self Advocacy Network – an I just wanted to commend you on the first organization founded by Ne’eman in 2007: few issues of UMBC Magazine. You and While UMBC Magazine might not your staff have done a nice job with the have the prestige or the circulation of publication. Thanks. National Public Radio or the many other — Jake Frego ’85 media outlets that have interviewed Interdisciplinary Studies Ari Ne’eman, writer Mat Edelson has managed to accomplish what, to date, has never been done: Portray Ne’eman I graduated from UMBC in 1975. Quite in an engaging, informative, and accurate frankly, over the years I had gotten to the manner, without drawing on stereotypes of point of ignoring all mail from UMBC and considering requesting UMBC to stop sending me stuff, because for so many years it was just a deluge of “WE NEED MONEY” communications, or so it seemed. However, I have totally changed my attitude due to “The Food Issue” ofUMBC Magazine I just received. I guess the cover and title caught my eye. It is totally enjoyable, visually entertaining, interesting, and amusing – in particular, the Ramen Bridge, as my husband is an “Oodles of Salt,” oops, I mean “Noodles” fanatic. (At least they have a reduced sodium version in a couple of flavors now.) UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

4 UP ON THE ROOF

UMBC President Freeman A. Q. What is UMBC doing to Hrabowski, III, takes your questions. educate all students, not just those in environmental majors, about Q. Many UMBC students are finding sustainability? that internships are an integral part of — Mark Stewart ’03, psychology the university experience. What’s your view about the benefits of internships A. We’re very proud of our faculty for students, employers and the members who focus on these issues at university? UMBC, particularly our Geography and Environmental Systems department. Their — Richard Byrne ’86, English Editor, UMBC Magazine teaching and cutting-edge research give us an excellent foundation for wider outreach A. It’s a very important part of a UMBC to students and others in the campus education. Large numbers of students across community on the urgent need to become a disciplines are engaged in experiences that give more sustainable planet – starting right here them the chance to explore the relationship at UMBC. between what they’re studying and how what they’ve learned can be used in real situations. Our primary way to reach all UMBC students about sustainability issues is an UMBC students in the arts and humanities annual Teach-In, which we held again in may go to CenterStage or to the Walters Art February of this year. Gallery. Students in engineering may go to into the discussion of how we design and BG&E. And students in the social sciences This two-day event draws upon the expertise implement plans to reduce the number of may work at Medicare and Medicaid Services of faculty members who deal regularly with single-occupant vehicles on campus. or the Social Security Administration. these issues in their research. There were classes that focused on how global warming The university’s Climate Change Task Force As a university, we have worked to build strong is affecting population patterns, what physics and its Transportation Work Group are ways relationships with potential partners in the teaches us about climate change, and how we that students collaborate on initiatives that larger community. And these employers say use mathematics to model its effects. improve access to public transportation, that getting a chance to know students before increase use of bicycles and ride-sharing they graduate can help them decide who they Our teach-in is a cross-disciplinary program programs, and upgrade campus walkways. may want to hire. that also draws in the social sciences and humanities. Our economists spoke about the Reducing our carbon footprint is an I hear all the time about the quality of our roots of climate activism in the philosophy important goal. But learning about the students as interns. That they’re not only good of John Stuart Mill. UMBC literary scholars challenges as we reach that goal is also part of thinkers, but also good people. They work well examined how the media tackles the subject. the UMBC experience. with others. They are dependable. And I talk Our public policy experts weighed in on what To send a question to President Hrabowski, visit regularly with students who have internships the proper role of government in addressing www.umbc.edu/magazine. with companies who have been offered full- the problem should be. It was an event that time jobs where they are working. offered everyone at UMBC something to When we talk about internships, we also think about regarding sustainability as they have to broaden our definition. How are pursue their own studies. students gaining work experience? They’re We also educate through our approach also doing it through regular jobs, part-time to campus issues. As we grapple with the work and research experience. I recently challenges posed to our campus traffic testified to the Maryland Legislature that and parking patterns by a desire to create a over 2,000 students work on our campus more sustainable campus and construction each year. Think about it: 2,000 students. on UMBC’s new Performing Arts and And all of it is hands-on experience. Humanities building, we’re bringing students www.umbc.edu/magazine

CAMPUS 5 treasure

Quadmania is UMBC’s annual carnival of spring. The weather is mild. Rides and games come to campus. And there’s music as well: This year’s offerings included hip-hop (Wale) and FM rock (Third Eye Blind). Photo: Stefanie Mavronis ’12 UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

6 the NEWS

The Doctors Are In Page Turners It’s Career Week at UMBC – an annual event focused on helping students and recent alumni select and secure Each fall, UMBC’s New jobs. Justin Alexander ’09, ancient studies, is Student Book Experience looking for work this spring. He clutches a copy of his provides an opportunity resume as he enters the University Center Ballroom. for freshmen and transfer He’s come to the right place. This is the Resume students to connect with ER, a clinic staffed by a rotating team of employers the university community and alumni dedicated to triage and surgery on clutter through a shared and disorganization in the gateway document for all conversation about a single jobseekers. book. Faculty and staff Two staffers from UMBC’s Career Services moderate small-group Center – Lori Logan-Bennett, associate discussions about the book during orientation, and new students can even enter a writing contest. In 2010, the book is The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari – a memoir that views the genocide in the Western Sudan through the eyes of a native who translates for foreign journalists. But how does a book get selected? The process is a mirror of the experience itself: A committee comprised of faculty, students and staff gets together and reads. Anyone in the UMBC community can nominate a book. But it is the committee – led by Michelle Scott, associate professor of history, and Janet McGlynn, director of communication and outreach in the Office director of recruitment and marketing, and Sue of Undergraduate Education – that sifts through the Plitt, coordinator of employer relations and job nominations and finally settles on three books that go development – are on hand to help direct those to President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, and Provost seeking to make their c.v. just right. Elliot Hirshman for a final decision. Since the event’s inception in 2009, volunteers have Committee meetings are often the scene of pointed out flaws that may trip up jobseekers at the passionate debate on the merits or flaws of particular very first step. After all, the resume is usually the first books. The group must select books that are of a impression a potential employer glimpses. high quality and broad enough in appeal to take in “Typographical errors and students underestimating the diversity of the university. The books must also their abilities are two of the biggest problems we see,” be widely available for purchase, so that students says Plitt. can read them before arriving for the fall semester. “They don’t think critically about what they can Opinions fly fast and furious. offer an employer,” adds Logan-Bennett. “Sometimes, In the end, however, a consensus forms. And they follow a template.” the winning book becomes an integral part of the Plitt and Logan agree that resumes should be university’s conversation. refreshed for each job opportunity. Including words — Richard Byrne ’86 from the employer’s job description is key. Alexander says he got just what he was looking for at the clinic: “I had formatting issues and realized that I needed to make my words jump off the page.” — Derek Roper ’11 www.umbc.edu/magazine

A Legacy of Leadership Shovel Ready As UMBC Magazine went to press, In 1965, Kuhn was selected as the chancellor the university learned that the of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Maryland General Assembly approved – the oldest campus in the system. At the same $37.4 million for the first year of time, he was handed the task of developing a new construction of a Performing Arts campus for the University System of Maryland on and Humanities Building. rolling farmland in Catonsville. Ground will be broken in June for At UMBC’s debut in 1966, Kuhn was proud of the $170 million project. The first the fact that the university opened on schedule.”It phase will include classrooms, class worked,” he told The Maryland Magazine at that and open laboratories, multimedia time. “We opened on the day we were supposed study and collaboration spaces, a to, right on schedule. Buildings were ready to be 275-seat main theater, a 100-seat occupied; sidewalks were installed; the faculty was black box theater, and support spaces. here. There were blackboards and even chalk.” John Jeffries, dean of the College Kuhn’s commitment to making it work was of Arts, Humanities and Social intensely personal. UMBC President Freeman Sciences, was delighted by the A. Hrabowski, III, observes that “[Kuhn] and his news. “At long last,” he observes, family moved into one of the original farmhouses “our theatre department – and in on the campus grounds – a small gray house that the second phase, our music and became his family’s residence, his office, and a dance departments – will have welcoming place frequented by UMBC students facilities worthy of their students and faculty members. Its porch became the catalog and their talent.” center for the library’s nascent 20,000-volume The UMBC community mourns the passing The presence of the humanities is collection. That farmhouse is gone today, replaced of Albin Owings Kuhn, the university’s first also a big part of the equation, Jeffries by our library, which was named to honor Dr. chancellor, at the age of 94. Kuhn died on March adds. “The prominent position of the Kuhn.” 24 at his home in Carroll County. Dresher Center in the building,” he Kuhn held both chancellorships until UMBC’s Kuhn’s oversight of UMBC’s initial planning, says, “and the presence of English second commencement in 1971, when he gave up development and construction laid the foundation and other humanities departments, his leadership position at UMBC. He served as for the university’s continued growth and success as will also substantially advance UMB’s chancellor until 1980. an institution of higher education. research, teaching and learning in the Hrabowski notes that he continues to offer Kuhn earned three degrees from the University humanities at UMBC.” these thoughts – which Kuhn gave to the of Maryland, College Park (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.). Jeffries concludes by noting that “it university’s first graduating class in 1970 – at each He taught there early in his career as a professor will be a signature building on campus UMBC commencement: of agronomy (1941-1955) and as chair of the that will make it plain how important “If you bring to the future the same personal Agronomy Department (1948-1955). He then the arts and humanities are to UMBC qualities and personal commitment you have shifted his career in academic leadership, serving and the state of Maryland.” brought to this campus as students, good and as assistant to the president (1955-1958) and then The second phase of construction, important things will happen to each of you, as as executive vice president (1958-1965) of the which is planned for 2012, will include well as to those around you… and the university University System of Maryland, which at that time new dance and concert halls, and community will be proud to have played a part in included the College Park, Baltimore City and a new home for the departments of your life.” Eastern Shore campuses. music, dance, philosophy and ancient — Richard Byrne ’86 studies. — Richard Byrne ’86 UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

8 AT PLAY

Making a Splash Jams and Jets Wondering how the Retrievers’ men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have sustained their Pro basketball has put a lot of stamps in the passport tournament excellence over the past few years? of Andrew Feeley ’05, sociology. The former A weeklong dose of sea and sand during winter Retriever standout has had success with teams break is part of the equation for success. in Mexico, Japan, Slovenia and France since his Each year, coach Chad Cradock ’97, psychology, graduation, including being named by hoops Web site takes his teams to Florida, where they stay in a hotel by Asia-Basket.com in 2009 as “Center of the Year” and the water in Boca Raton and enjoy life on the beach for “Import Player of the Year” in Japan. their midseason training camp. The warm weather is a Feeley also helped his Slovenian team advance nice backdrop for some intensive training, however. to that country’s Super Cup finals before a move in “We really focus on developing them and getting January 2010 to the French professional club Antibes. stronger,” said Cradock, who took the same trip as As a 6-foot-9 center, Feeley finds that playing the game is the easy part of the international hoops experience. “Basketball is basketball wherever you go,” he says. “Many English basketball terms are used all over the world: shoot, pass, pick and roll, rebound.” There are some key rule differences. On the plus side for a big man, a ball can be touched in the basket in the international game and not be considered goaltending. However, American players do have to learn to avoid a traveling violation by dribbling once before picking up their pivot foot. “The biggest adjustment is the language barrier,” Feeley says. “It’s so hard, and funny, to be trying to talk a UMBC swimmer from 1993 to 1997. “It’s also to someone, looking at them right in the eye, and have probably the best time for our team to do some real no idea what they are saying. Most people in the world bonding and get closer as a family.” can speak a little English, but I have realized that they Daily two-hour workouts at 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. are are uncomfortable trying to use it in public.” the main events of the day – with an occasional extra Feeley’s solution? Combining foreign words he hour for non-swimming workouts. picks up along the way with some English in the same The trip is part of the teams’ annual budget, sentence. “It seems to work pretty well,” he says. but team members also do a healthy amount — David Driver of fundraising to help pay for the trip. NCAA regulations require that teams compete if they make such a journey, so UMBC swam an exhibition meet against North Carolina State. The Retrievers’ men have won six consecutive America East titles, while the women have taken two of the last three titles. The trip did have its relaxing moments, including a day off from practice on New Year’s Eve spent at a dinner hosted by the director of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and a bowling excursion. — Jeff Seidel ’85 www.umbc.edu/magazine

Reel is Real In the music video for Ian Carey’s “Get Shaky,” “People have definitely noticed it,” the song’s throbbing beat impels students at a he says. sleepy Montgomery County school to erupt Zemrose teaches at Frederick into dance. Flashes of light and the funky sound Community College, and spends punctuate an impromptu dance-off. the balance of his time on videos. The video was edited byMichael Zemrose “I’ve been working with the ’06, visual arts, whose efforts helped the clip Science Applications International win an Australian MTV Video Music Award. Corporation doing military videos Ian Carey kept the statuette, but Zemrose did for the Army,” he observes. He is have his picture taken with the trophy. also pondering a return to UMBC “They let me spend some quality time with to take an M.F.A. in imaging and it,” he chuckles. digital arts. Carey asked him back to make the video for In March, Zemrose caught production days where I have to get up at the his song, “S.O.S.” – which was shot last July in the attention of Baltimore Ravens linebacker crack of dawn and work a 12 to 14 hour day the Florida Keys. That video has garnered over Terrell Suggs, who brought him aboard to work with little chance to eat,” he says. on a short film called . 418,000 views thus far. Sisters — Derek Roper ’11 The award and exposure have helped While making films and videos sounds Zemrose win attention for his own video work. fun, it can also be grueling. “Especially on

The Right Moves When Harvard hosted the Pan-Am resting on their laurels, says Richard Selzler, to replace members who have graduated. Intercollegiate Chess Tournament in 1990 in president of UMBC’s Chess Club. He says “Hopefully we can recruit new members of all Cambridge, UMBC’s chess team placed 26th the umbrella group for the university’s chess levels,” Selzler concludes. out of 27 teams that entered the competition. activities is seeking to increase its funding and — Derek Roper ’11 Over the past two decades, however, its membership. UMBC’s chess teams have become a national One thing that hasn’t changed since 1990 power – and a symbol of UMBC’s drive to is the need for funding. At that first become “An Honors University in Maryland.” Pan-Am tournament, a player’s In April, the team took home its sixth title father drove the team to Boston. in the annual President’s Cup tournament, “Fees have kept the club from dubbed “the Final Four of College Chess.” going to tournaments,” UMBC Chess Director Alan Sherman says Selzler observes. “Entry fees, that the victory came “against the strongest hotel costs, and travel costs field of chess teams ever assembled at any are expensive.” Final Four.” Chess scholarships for its Since 1996, the team has won or shared first best players are part of the place in the Pan-Am Tournament – which recipe for UMBC’s determines the finalists for the President’s Cup success. But the club – a record nine times, including a five-year itself welcomes streak between 1998 and 2002. all players, and is UMBC’s chess players at all levels are not actively seeking UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

10 DISCOVERY

The Eyes Have It When you think of advanced, complex visual But it’s the shrimps’ eyes, and not their temperament, systems – eyes with far more acuity of vision than that fascinates Cronin. His lab’s motto is, “If it has eyes, human eyes – you do not think of shrimp. Tom we study it,” and Cronin travels to the Great Barrier Cronin does. He collects samples of a variety of the Reef in Australia yearly to pick up samples. animals to study how they view the world, and to see The mantis shrimp’s eyes can do things ours cannot. if anything he can learn from them would be useful “They are extremely complicated, in some ways to us. advanced, in some ways primitive,” he says. “They Specifically, Cronin, a professor of biological have more color channels than any other animal we sciences at UMBC, studies mantis shrimps, named know about. Humans are pretty weak in the color because of their folded arms and tilted, mantis-like vision department.” Humans have only three color stance. The creatures – some of which are edible, and channels. Many invertebrates have a fourth channel can range in size from half an inch to a foot long – are for ultraviolet or long red sensing. More interesting, mantis shrimp eyes, which are located on two constantly moving stalks in the head, can see polarized light in ways we cannot. We can see the colors, but the shrimp can tell whether it is polarized, if the electromagnetic vibrations are all going the same direction. That helps them see details we would miss, and are great for hunting. The system evolved as a “kludge,” attributes piled on attributes during evolution; without the elegance some systems develop. The eyes must keep moving to see anything. They scan, with parts of the two eyes moving separately, and the stalks moving remarkable in many ways. independently. If they see a target, they snap to For one thing, they aren’t really shrimp. The attention. Because the shrimp have tiny brains and the variously-colored creatures are crustaceans from the information collected by the eyes is huge, the shrimps, order Stomatopoda (shrimp are usually Decapods), but like most arthropods, have most of their nervous these long, flat crustaceans often acquire the “shrimp” system in the eye stalks. name. They have evolved a remarkable visual system Cronin gets his funding from the National Science because they are predators: they hunt down smaller Foundation and the U.S. Air Force. The military is creatures, crush and eat them. Yes, killer shrimp. They interested because studying the eyes could lead to even have a nasty disposition. Fishermen who catch better instruments for both communication and them can get their hands mangled if they grab them scientific measurement. The research might also from their nets. One surgeon in South Africa lost a produce better DVD or disc players because more hand when a mantis shrimp stabbed him, Cronin says. information can be crammed onto a single disc. While they are popular aquarium pets, you don’t want — Joel N. Shurkin anything else in the tank unless it is very big or very fast. They can knock out the glass in tanks. www.umbc.edu/magazine

Reading Culture in Child Lit Nobel Nod Fables and tales for children are often foundational of the story, Wiesner has pushed us out as well…. texts for our culture. But does it work the other When bad comes along here, you simply jump way around? Can we read larger movements in out of your story into another one. Click. Evil is popular culture back into the immense amounts therefore unreal.” She concludes that “the risk with of literature for children on the market today? the cyber-genre is that, with all its glitz, we lose the Ellen Handler Spitz, Honors College pity and the terror which Aristotle extolled and professor of the visual arts, takes children’s Plato feared.” literature very seriously – as a researcher and a Spitz was invited to become the regular writer critic. Among her scholarly works are two classic on children’s literature by The New Republic’s studies of children’s literature and their aesthetic literary editor, Leon Wieseltier, and other editors world: Inside Picture Books (1999), and The at the magazine. “I said to Leon I’d be interested Brightening Glance: Imagination in doing it,” she says, “but only if I had free rein. and Childhood (2006). She also I didn’t want to only just review has a new book, Illuminating contemporary Childhood: Portraits in Fiction, children’s books. Film, and Drama, forthcoming I wanted more of a from University of Michigan range, because my Press later this year. research and my writing Now Spitz is also writing have to do much more Every year, Nobel Laureates in the about children’s literature broadly with children’s sciences meet in the Bavarian town from one of the loftiest aesthetic lives.” of Lindau to exchange ideas. The perches in the journalism The new platform has meeting is also an opportunity for of ideas: The New Republic turned out to be a perfect 500 young researchers, selected in and its online review, The fit, she continues: “They said, a rigorous competition, to benefit Book. In recent essays, ‘We don’t want any cutesy, from the dialogue. This year, Benyam she’s written about a trio kiddie-lit kind of thing. We Kinde ’10, will be among them. Kinde of books for children want serious, smart, hard- is a Meyerhoff scholar with ambitions that tackle the topic hitting critical reviews.’” to study neuroscience. He was of same-sex marriage Spitz also sees strong nominated to attend the conference (including the classic links between her forays into by Peter Agre, a medical doctor, Heather Has Two Mommies) and David Wiesner’s mainstream media and her professor and molecular biologist at retelling of the classic The Three Pigs aimed at work at UMBC. “In the United States, we keep The Johns Hopkins University who “the population of children known as ‘cyberkids,’ our academics very separate from the rest of the was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in ‘digital youth,’ and the ‘net generation.’” world,” she says. “There’s a lot of mistrust. I’ve Chemistry and received an honorary Spitz’s essays read the works for children that always hated that. I think it’s absurd….For me, these degree from UMBC in 2009. she’s reviewing back into an intellectual heritage worlds should not be separated. Everyone gains Kinde is currently weighing M.D./ ranging from Ovid to La Fontaine to Walter when they’re not. Ph.D. offers from The Johns Hopkins Benjamin. And while her pieces are not reviews The American academy needs to connect more University and Harvard University. His in the traditional consumer sense, she is also not closely with other elements in our cultural life.” brother, Isaac Kinde ’05, biological afraid to make bold assertions. — Richard Byrne ’86 sciences, is pursuing that same joint In her review of The Three Pigs, for instance, she degree at Hopkins. notes that the pigs simply leap out of the story when threatened by the wolf. “By letting pigs out UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

Making Math Matter DISCOVERY There’s a small but shiny apple on the desk in Tighe teaches Calculus I and Calculus II at Bonny Tighe’s office on the fourth floor of the UMBC – foundational and gateway courses to a wide Mathematics/Psychology building. range of disciplines in the sciences. Many successful It’s precisely the right sort of fruit for Tighe – who UMBC students have numbered Tighe’s no- is a senior lecturer in the Mathematics Department. nonsense approach to the subject among their earliest Last year, she was also the first recipient of a new memories of the university. award for teaching created by UMBC’s College of She says the students that arrive in her class from Natural and Mathematical Sciences. high school or elsewhere “are all bright. But most The Carl S. Weber Excellence in Science and of them have no idea how to take responsibility for Mathematics Teaching Award was created in memory their own learning. They just sit there waiting for of Weber, an assistant professor emeritus of biological something to happen. That’s the biggest challenge. sciences known for his passion for classroom They’re bright, so in high school they can sit there and do well. Here, they sit there and they don’t do so well.” At the beginning, at least. Tighe has a battery of weapons at her disposal to break the passivity and get things moving in the right direction. “I encourage them. I chastise them. It’s worse than being a mother… If you are willing to work, I will work with you every day. That’s the reputation I have. I’m hard. I require them to perform. But if they’re working at it, I’ll do anything to help.” One of the arrows in Tighe’s quiver is getting the right balance of theory (“the ‘why’ of calculus,” she calls it) and problem solving in the course. Insistence teaching. The prize is intended to honor professors on memorization as the key to mastering calculus and lecturers in the college who combine the qualities is another. “They haven’t been expected to train of rigor, approachability, inspiration and pedagogical their memory,” she says of her incoming students. innovation. “But there’s no knowledge without memory. All Tighe laughs heartily as she recalls being surprised mathematics builds on what you know.” with news of the award at an academic committee And then there’s that voice: Tighe’s cheery boom meeting. “I was speechless,” she chuckles. “And that that could waken the sleeping or the dead, let alone never happens.” the passive student – even in UMBC’s large lecture “When nominations were sought for the Weber halls. “My voice is loud,” she laughs. “So that’s not a prize, I could not think of anyone other than Bonny problem.” who deserved the award more,” says Professor Tighe says the moments when she sees the Nagaraj Neerchal, chairman of the Department of lightbulb go on over a student’s head – and stay on Mathematics and Statistics. “Bonny spends numerous – is “what keeps you going. If you don’t have those hours beyond the class time with her students, and moments, then you quit.” her help sessions are legendary.” — Richard Byrne ’86 www.umbc.edu/magazine

Targeting Terror in Turkey Turkey is a nation faced with unique challenges and opportunities. It is a secular democracy – balancing its resurgent Islamic parties with a powerful military that has often dabbled in politics. It is seeking membership in the European Union. It is a key ally of the United States in a region that remains volatile. One of Turkey’s greatest challenges, however, is an internal challenge: a movement by the nation’s Kurdish minority to gain greater rights and perhaps even autonomy in the country’s southeast region – which borders on Iraq and Iran. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was formed in the late 1970s under the leadership of Abdullah Ocalan. The group launched violent guerilla attacks on Turkey for a number of years, Kurds hold up posters of the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan at the annual Nevruz celebration in Diyarbakir, exacting a large number of casualties and costing Turkey March 21, 2007. millions of dollars. Even Ocalan’s capture in 1999 has not completely stemmed the attacks. Unal’s research examined the effects of the government policies are likely to be perceived Turkey’s effectiveness in battling the PKK Turkish Government’s anti-terrorism policies as illegitimate by civilians and therefore was a topic that intrigued Mustafa Cosar on reducing PKK violence from 1984-2007, increase anti-government hostility, Unal said. Unal ’09, Ph.D., public policy. Unal, the response of the PKK to those policies and “Regardless of whether or not the who is an intelligence official with Turkey’s the underlying causes of the violence. government’s counterterrorism policies defeat National Police, dedicated his doctoral Based on a quantitative and qualitative the PKK and/or reduce the PKK violence, the dissertation to researching the effects of analysis of Turkish government policies and PKK issue remains unresolved in Turkey and Turkish government anti-terrorism policies the PKK’s internal dynamics and strategic will be affected by internal and international aimed at thwarting violence. decisions, Unal concluded that despite events for some time to come,” Unal wrote. His conclusion? The government’s efforts some short-term reductions in violence and UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski, failed to produce long-term reductions in the PKK’s eventual military defeat, Turkish III, singled out Unal’s work at the university’s violence, despite bringing about the PKK’s government policies intended to eliminate winter commencement ceremonies, calling his military defeat. PKK violence have been ineffective in the long research on terrorism “crucial to the world we term. He also determined that policies aimed live in today.” at incapacitating PKK members resulted in Current events seem to bear out much of “...the PKK issue remains increased retaliatory PKK-initiated violence for Unal’s analysis. While violent clashes between up to three months. the Turkish military and the PKK continue, the unresolved in Turkey Unal also emphasizes the role of the civilian group’s imprisoned leader Ocalan and others population as key to reducing ethnic violence. have been arguing for nonviolent solutions to and will be affected by He stated that the government’s failure to Turkey’s disputes with its Kurdish minority. thwart PKK violence can be attributed largely Turkish politicians have also broached the internal and international to its singular reliance on criminological- possibility of an amnesty that would bring based policies. Such an approach disregards guerilla fighters and the civilian population events for some time to grievances buried in social context and which supports them into the political process. public sentiments that lead some individuals — Kavan Peterson and Richard Byrne ’86 come.” to engage in terrorist activities. As a result, Photo: Kathryn Cook/Agence VU/Aurora Photos UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

14 www.umbc.edu/magazine

How challenging and timely internships changed the career trajectories of four UMBC alumni.

By Meredith Purvis, Derek Roper ’11 and Erika Shernoff Photos by Howard Korn UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

astering an academic discipline is THE RIGHT NOTES an important step in preparing for a Amy Coveyou ’07, computer successful career. Yet for many UMBC science, was a stay-at-home mother M of three when she decided she wanted students, internships have been another key to re-enter the workplace. Taking element in career success. stock of her bachelor’s degree in music and her years out of the work Internships can confirm a career direction force raising her family, she wondered just what she needed to do to obtain and provide some early connections in a chosen skills useful for the contemporary field. Sometimes, however, the right internship job market. Her solution? A new degree in computer science. is more than that. It can help a student take “Most people don’t have an a giant first step in his or her career, or opportunity for a do-over on their bachelor’s degree,” she says. encourage a radical change in direction. Coveyou knew the challenges involved in re-entering the job For the four alumni we’ve chosen to spotlight market. So she first took classes at here, internships have made a big difference. Anne Arundel Community College before making the leap to UMBC’s One alumna is forging a path in the challenging computer science program in 2005. world of journalism. Another alumnus is Her goal was a career in programming. making our highways safer. A third alumna What is it about coding and programming that delights this former went from returning student to coveted music major? Coveyou explains that programming superstar. And our last alumnus there is a closer connection than simply a keyboard. “Lots of programmers are finds his work is helping others play. gifted musically,” she says. The attention to detail, the counting, the use of What do they have in common? All four alumni numbers, the rhythms – music and math point to their internships – whether organized can be both technical and beautiful. Part of Coveyou’s plan of study by UMBC’s Shriver Center (which helps place at UMBC was to land hands-on over 1,300 UMBC students in internships experience that would help her advance in the profession. The Shriver every year), or obtained through the help of Center helped her find one at the a professor – as life-changing experiences. Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) in the summer between her junior and senior years in 2006. The experience was a success. Working full-time throughout www.umbc.edu/magazine

she found a programming internship at USinternetworking, Inc (USI) in Annapolis – a chance to show off skills in her chosen subfield. By the time she was ready to graduate in December 2007, Booz Allen Hamilton came calling with an offer that USI wanted to match – with Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Census Bureau also waiting in the wings. Coveyou knew that Booz Allen Hamilton would be a fierce commute and long work hours, but they were offering the programming job that she dreamed about. And as a Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, Coveyou now programs all day long to her heart’s content. Looking back as an adult making a career change later in life, Coveyou acknowledges that “I thought I was in less of a bargaining position versus younger kids.” But, she adds, “employers saw the value-add of an adult with experience.” Part of what they valued was Coveyou’s commitment to remaking her education at UMBC as an adult. To others who might be thinking about going back to school long after their babies are tying their own shoelaces, Amy Coveyou ’07, computer science she says: “Stick to it”. She certainly did. — Erika Shernoff the summer at DBED, Coveyou time she left in March 2007, she was generated state reports and trained reporting directly to the department people on a Customer Relationship head and managing all of the other SAFETY FIRST Management (CRM) system, a interns. However, she knew exactly Many kids only think they know what tool used to manage customer the career she was heading towards they want to be when they grow up. relationships, sales and marketing. and needed to move on. “I didn’t want But others are certain from a very Coveyou quickly rose to a position to be on the administrative track. early age – and then follow through. where she was enforcing database I wanted to program,” she says. Take Gamunu Wijetunge ’01, protocols and developing policies Coveyou’s next internship proved emergency health services, for to prevent improper entries. By the even more invaluable. In June 2007, instance. When he was only four years UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

old, Wijetunge knew he would grow UMBC and enrolled in the university’s Vehicle Administration (MVA). up to be a paramedic. “You have an emergency health services program. Wijetunge’s summer internships immediate impact,” he explains. “Your But Wijetunge’s path took a taught him a lot about how each patients are right in front of you, maybe precipitous and unexpected turn. organization worked. Employees also in the worst moment of their lives. But In his junior year, with an eye took him under their wing. One mentor you get to make an impact on the spot.” toward earning some money over at the MVA took a special interest in his Wijetunge was already well along the summer, he signed up for an career, encouraging Wijetunge to get pursuing that path as a student at internship with Maryland Department involved with basic research and act as Montgomery Blair High School. of Transportation (MDOT). The a fresh set of eyes for ongoing projects. Already, he had become a volunteer internship included 30-day stints at both “He took me seriously,” emergency medical technician the Maryland Transit Administration Wijetunge recalls, “and didn’t make (EMT). He followed that dream to (MTA) and the state’s Motor any assumptions about me.” In the fall semester, Wijetunge Gamunu “Gam” Wijetunge ’01, emergency health services continued exploring the administrative path through an internship at the Maryland State Highway Administration’s Office of Traffic Safety. His inside knowledge of the MVA came in handy at OTS when Wijetunge was assigned the seemingly mundane task of sorting through old crash fatality data from the MVA. His bosses told him a crucial chunk of data from the MVA had been missing for several years, but Wijetunge knew where to look. He drove to his former workplace and returned later that day with the missing data. His new supervisors were impressed with the initiative he’d taken, and he played an important role in completing the project. The internships led Wijetunge to consider a career in safety administration. “My internships were short,” he says, “but they exposed me to how the government can work and all that it can do,” he says. Today, Wijetunge works as a highway safety specialist for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Office of Emergency Medical Services, where he focuses on issues such as disaster preparedness and www.umbc.edu/magazine

emergency medical services workforce development. He builds strategic plans that make it possible for paramedics in the field to do their jobs better. And he has not forgotten his first love. On weekends, Wijetunge leaves his suit and tie behind and volunteers as a paramedic. It’s a unique perspective that most administrators don’t get. “I get to enjoy two dynamics,” he observes. “During the week, I’m operating at the 10,000-foot level, working on things that may take years ’til we see the impact. But working in the field, I get to see the impact of my office work. It keeps me motivated.” — Meredith Purvis THE REAL DEAL When a raffle of a $1.6 million house in Baltimore County falls through or Maryland homeowners find their homes underwater, Baltimore Sun business reporter Jamie Smith Hopkins ’98, English, has the scoop. The real estate beat is an important one for any local paper. And Hopkins Jamie Smith Hopkins ’98, English credits her investment in several on her part. “They sent interns out newsroom on her very first day, internships as a key to building a to cover themes like camps, and Hopkins says that it reminded her career out of her passion for writing. you would have to go around to of the busy hum and clatter of the Hopkins spent most of her high these summer camps and get ideas Washington Post newsroom in the school years in home schooling before to formulate themes,” she recalls. film,All the President’s Men. “It was enrolling at Howard Community Once she arrived at UMBC, more than I expected,” she says. As College. After submitting a comic Hopkins found a mentor in an intern, she wrote news briefs and strip to the college’s newspaper, Christopher Corbett, a professor of obituaries. “It is a great way to learn she found herself pulled even the practice in the university’s English how to get information correctly deeper into the enterprise. Department. “Corbett is excellent at and how to interact with people The community college newspaper his job and promotes the importance since it is a difficult time for people also gave Hopkins a chance at her of getting internships,” she says. to be talking about the recently first internship, working for Patuxent Eventually, Corbett helped her land an deceased.” She also managed to place Publishing Company. The pieces that internship at a place where she knew a feature about Baltimore’s embattled she wrote for Columbia Magazine’s she wanted to work: The Baltimore Sun. Bromo Seltzer tower in the paper. advertising section required leg work When she entered The Sun’s “The Sun was an excellent place UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

Elliot Pace ’08, mathematics www.umbc.edu/magazine

to intern,” she says. “The people limit of his curiosity. “I was equally Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution there are just helpful. They want curious about how they worked and (2008). He also received an offer people to succeed and help young how they were made,” he explains. to return full-time after graduation, reporters to be able to improve.” Pace pursued that interest by and he has worked as a graphics In December of 1998, the budding investigating pick-up tips and strategies programmer at Firaxis ever since. reporter graduated and landed a job for writing programming code for “The internship changed at the Ames Tribune in Iowa with help games. “By the end of my senior year my life and had absolutely zero from Sun’s editor, Bill Marimow. “I in high school, I learned how to write drawbacks,” Elliot said. agonized about leaving and talked software capable of drawing triangles These days, Pace’s typical day begins it over with friends and family.” on the computer screen.” He had also at 10 a.m. with his uniform usually In the midwest, Hopkins covered learned how to make sound effects. being a t-shirt and blue jeans. His lunch the education beat. “They had us At UMBC, the aspiring hours are unorthodox as well: he takes writing constantly, which was great for programmer spent what he calls an his lunch at noon and for an hour he a writer’s experience,” she recalls. After “endless” amount of time honing his plays online games with co-workers. a brief stint at the Tribune, the reporter programming skills, creating small By 6 p.m. it’s usually time to clock out. returned to Maryland after Halloween 3-D games to showcase all his work. And if he is working late on a to The Sun as a full-time employee. “College is the best time to learn deadline, the company usually orders These days, Hopkins is a reporter as much as possible,” Pace observes. up dinner from local restaurants. working in old media (writing But that effort made him ready to Pace says he has no doubt that stories for the paper) and new seize an opportunity he saw in 2006. he would be writing software media, tackling “buying, selling and As Pace walked across campus somewhere, perhaps for business renting in the Baltimore area” on one day, his brother pointed out fliers or math applications. But his turn her blog: The Real Estate Wonk. advertising a Firaxis Games event at into gaming turned into a joyride. Hopkins says that practicing the craft UMBC. The event had been set up “It would have been much less of journalism – either on an internship by Casey Miller, the Shriver Center’s exciting, so I would have continued to or at the student paper – is a key to assistant director of internships. try and get a job in the game industry,” success. But internships, she adds, give Pace and 30 other students attended says Pace. “It is where I belong.” you that feel for the profession and the gaming presentation by the staff — Derek Roper ’11 the give-and-take of a real newsroom. of Firaxis Games, which was hosted “There’s nothing better than to be by the UMBC game development edited by a good editor,” she says. club. The budding UMBC gamer even — Derek Roper ’11 got a chance to talk one-on-one with the company’s director of technology GAME FOR ANYTHING – and an opportunity to share the video game side projects that he had Video games are a way to play. But spent so much time working on. what if you could make that play pay Pace exited that interview with an off as a career? appointment for a formal internship For Elliot Pace, ’08, mathematics, interview. By spring 2007, he was it was an internship in the gaming world working part-time as a paid intern four years ago that eventually won at Firaxis on some of the company’s him a job at a video game company. bigger projects – including a role In high school, Pace played a lot as a support graphics programmer of video games. But that wasn’t the for one of the artists on the game UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

Photo credit www.umbc.edu/magazine

23 As a journalist and an author, UMBC English professor Christopher Corbett has a knack for finding marvelous and mislaid stories past and present.

By Rafael Alvarez UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

24 hristopher Corbett once While the young Turks with spun as a reporter – along with books chased news for the Central reporter’s notebooks in Washington such as Orphans Preferred: The Twisted CMaine Morning Sentinel, the were bringing down hog-jowled Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony last daily newspaper in New England presidents, Sentinel readers were bringing Express – it helps to have lived a few. to use hot type before computers dead animals into the Some were tragic took the noise out of the business. Waterville newsroom. – “bad things, terrible It was the final gasp of an epoch, “We had a full- things,” he says of his when copy was still lowered down to time fish and game early days on the cops the composing room in a wire basket columnist,” says Corbett, and robbers beat. And to a few old goats who remembered doing what he does others were just breakfast, the days of the newsroom telegrapher. best – spinning yarn – like his Washington Post “We wrote about bean suppers and over a plate of lasagna assignment to cover lists of new books at the library,” marvels in Little Italy. “They’d the first annual Spam Corbett, a professor of the practice in come in with turtles as Festival in Austin, Minn. UMBC’s English department and a big as manhole covers.” And sometimes, an connoisseur of the everyday marvel. Stories ripe and especially rascally reporter “Everything was news in Maine.” hanging low for the picking: helps herd a story into Corbett was in his early 20s, a newly- Hustlers teaching white water print and becomes a part of local minted penny out of Northwestern canoeing through the mail! Turtles lore in the doing, as Corbett did University, tossed into the world of as big as manhole covers! in Farmington, Maine – his first Watergate journalism after a stint And therein is the skeleton key to outpost at the Morning Sentinel. on the Maine Weekly and a spell in Corbett’s success: the instinct to know “In my four years in Farmington, Ireland among his ancestral fabulists. that before you can write a good story, I never stopped hearing about you must be able to tell one. And the Corbett legend,” says Neil before you can spin the yarns that he has Genzlinger, now a copy editor with

The Hollenberg Pony Express Station in Washington County, Kansas. Corbett has been a featured speaker at a number of commemorations of the Pony Express’ 150th anniversary. www.umbc.edu/magazine

25 The New York Times. “Farmington was the kind of backwater where weird news tends to occur.” The Farmington “bureau” was a room at the back of Mickey’s Variety Store, recalls Corbett, and it was there that an obscure inventor named Chester Greenwood – who invented the earmuff in the town in 1873 – went from local trivia item to famous native son. “Corbett’s greatest coup,” Genzlinger says, “was when he and Mickey Maguire – an aged local legend – cooked up the idea that the town should celebrate Greenwood. There would be a Chester Greenwood Day and a local state legislator helped draft and pass a statewide proclamation.” The first celebration took place in 1977. The national media descended on Farmington to cover it. A parade to celebrate Chester Greenwood (a machinist who also patented a steel tooth rake) has been celebrated A rider on the Pony Express, 1861. each December ever since. “There was a Chester Greenwood from joining the circus or running home in Roland Park, might persuade and he did invent the earmuff,” twinkles away to sea, neither of which are one that he’s never forgotten anything, Corbett. “But I helped him out.” what they used to be – allowed for except perhaps to clean out the obtaining such experience as being garage like his wife asked him to do. native of the Pine Tree State, a rookie reporter at the now-quaint “I can see it all when Chris talks. Chris Corbett has lived in institution known as a daily newspaper. It’s a monologue you can’t interrupt,” Baltimore since 1980. He has Many of Corbett’s adventures says Greg Otto, a Baltimore artist A as a newspaperman in Maine known for his local streetscapes – a taught in the English Department of became the source of his first book, territory he regularly walks with the 1986 novel, Vacationland. Corbett. “When he talks of the Old “I was riding around in a 1967 Buick West, a real love of his, I can see those LeSabre with a 20-channel Bearcat scattered Pony Express stations.” police scanner on the dashboard, “Chris Corbett would never want covering news and taking pictures to write a story that’s been written in the town where the earmuff was the same way a hundred times,” says invented,” remembers Corbett. “I was Ann LoLordo, a former Baltimore 22 or 23-years-old taking pictures Sun editorial writer and a poet. “His UMBC for the past 20 years. of car accidents. When you’ve seen intellectual curiosity complements The acting chair of the department someone go through the windshield, his curiosity about the common man. in 2006 and 2007, he became a you tend to remember it.” What he finds isn’t always pretty, but professor of the practice in 2006. A repast with Corbett, whether a it makes for good storytelling.” Corbett’s “practice” is the written plate of pasta on South High Street or Not that the public necessarily word. Little else in American life – aside coffee at the Evergreen Café near his wants pretty. “No one cares if you went UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

including laundry and cooking. “There isn’t a flyblown town from Grangeville, Idaho down to Nevada that doesn’t have a Chinese restaurant” that harkens back to the Old West, said Corbett. “The more I poked around, the more Chinese I found.” As the decades wore on after the California Gold Rush, fewer Chinese were admitted into the United States. Legislation was passed in 1882 prohibiting their entry for a decade, a law that was then renewed. The racist phrase “a Chinaman’s chance” – an epithet applied to the fate of a Chinese immigrant whether

A Chinese girl sold into slavery in San Francisco, taken by Arthur Genthe, the great chronicler of in a court of law or an argument over that neighborhood before the 1906 earthquake. (Image courtesy of California Historical Society) a pig – represents the odds the entire group had in a white man’s world. to Bermuda and had a good time,” San Francisco. “It was not a particularly Says Corbett: “The Chinaman’s says Corbett, a veteran of the travel jolly episode in American history.” chance is no chance at all.” narrative. “Bad experiences make for One of those who landed on the Polly Bemis survived an era good stories. People want a nightmare.” shores of what the Chinese called “the of fatal fights over sex slaves All of Corbett’s skill, considerable Golden Mountain,” was an illiterate sex imported from China (with the charm and skeptic’s love of the Old slave, a woman who became the winning Chinese favoring hatchets over West are on display jackpot of the book’s title, a six-shooters) that appeared in in his new book, singular character we only newspapers as late as World War I. The Poker Bride: The know as Polly Bemis. Corbett claims she outlived First Chinese in the Not only was Polly an the hate that labeled her and Wild West (Atlantic unlikely survivor whose her brethren a “yellow peril.” Monthly Press). affable ghost drives the Polly beat the odds. The tale, described story, but her tale, says by Corbett as a “popular Corbett, “put a face on f Corbett’s instincts for the narrative,” recounts the an experience we don’t tales told in The Poker Bride and legacy of the mid-19th know a lot about. Orphans Preferred (released this century California Gold “The Library of I year in paperback to commemorate Rush, one of mankind’s Congress has lamented the 150th anniversary of the Pony great migrations. The the lack of primary source material Express) were nurtured at the Morning story is told through the largely dreary for the Chinese in the American Sentinel, they were honed in his and often tragic experiences of Chinese West …. Their story has been seven years as a reporter and editor laborers who landed in California to get told from the perspective of this for the Associated Press (AP). their piece of the action once the cry country, and all references to them At the storied wire service, of “Eureka!” circled the globe in 1848. are either comic or unflattering.” he says, “You were taught to be “The welcome wagon was not there Edged out of the prime mining careful, to ask questions.” to meet them,” says Corbett of the claims, the Chinese who arrived in Corbett first shoveled AP copy in 130,000 or so Chinese – most from the America did domestic work that Hartford, Conn., the one-time home Pearl River delta – who came to the no one else in the bachelor society of Mark Twain, that rare American American West through the port of of the Old West was willing to do, writer, he points out, who wrote www.umbc.edu/magazine

Polly Bemis, the Chinese woman sold into prostitution in the American West and the subject of The Poker Bride. (Idaho Historical Society) UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

A Chinese prospector works a sluice box. In The Poker Bride, Corbett relates how quickly Chinese immigrants were edged out of such activities in favor of domestic trades. (Image courtesy of California Historical Society)

passionate defenses of the immigrant characters behind bizarre tales along the Reporting for a wire service, Corbett Chinese in the Old West, particularly Patapsco knocked on a reporter’s door said, was “like being a short order in the 1872 classic, Roughing It. to introduce themselves in Crabtown. cook in a mental hospital. You learn From Hartford, Corbett landed “Baltimore is ground zero for to work quickly because all of the in Baltimore when his wife, the man-bites-dog stories,” he says. “More patients wanted something different Pulitzer Prize-winning editor Rebecca men bite dogs here than anywhere on and they wanted it right now!” Corbett (now with The New York the Eastern seaboard. I have interviewed It was a life, he said, about as far Times), took a job with the Sun. many a lady who’d taught her parrot removed from the mood of a college If “everything” was news in Maine, the how to sing ‘Home on the Range.’” campus as the plates of noodles www.umbc.edu/magazine

29 shared among Chinese mule packers Johnny would not stop at UMBC to someone who survived the Chinese during the California Gold Rush discuss metaphysics with us. I suppose sex slave trade,” says Corbett. were from the salons that nurtured it was all a long, long time ago.” While kicking around the Western Edith Wharton’s society intrigues. But not quite as long ago was United States on another story, Corbett The life of kings, to quote H.L. the day the woman who would be kept coming across deep veins of Mencken, if the monarchs happened known as Polly Bemis landed on the memories and remnants about the to reign over people who talked funny, crowded wharves of San Francisco first Chinese communities there. dressed funny and had absolutely no idea how funny they were. “My first AP office was at 210 North Calvert Street,” he recalls. ‘The other tenant was some operation that dealt with junkies. The mounted police used to tie their horses up at the back door.” Now something of a vanished world, it bore “no resemblance to the world of UMBC. I might as well have come off a spaceship,” says Corbett, under whose mentorship The Retriever Weekly student newspaper won national awards in 1995 and 1996. Trying to get a young writer’s radar to pick up the presence of other worldly characters who crowd the shores of the Chesapeake is somewhat more difficult than teaching the five Ws of news gathering, says Corbett. Corbett in his office, with the research materials used in Orphans Preferred and The Poker Bride. “I tell my students to find a good (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun) story and then let the story carry them,” he says. “I use the annual ‘Night of 100 in 1872 to work the sex trade, having And he was intrigued to discover that Elvises’ as an example. How can you been sold for bags of seed in China while “the whole world is buried” in not get a base hit out of 100 fat guys by her impoverished parents and Old West cemeteries, there was scant who think they look like Elvis?” resold in California for $2,500. trace of any Chinese interred there. Though no one can recall Elvis Polly was later won in a poker game Bone collectors had come from stopping by the Baltimore AP office in by a borderline cad and deadbeat China to take the corpses home. the years that Corbett was there (1980- gambler named Charlie Bemis who – in But not Polly. 1984), a frequent source of news was a move that kept her in a New World She is buried near the home that the late John Kafka, founding legend that so many of her countrymen friends built for her along the Salmon of “Polock Johnny’s” polish sausage, abandoned in time – made her his wife. River, her cabin a museum on the once promoted as the “un-burger.” It is Polly, a true pioneer of the National Register of Historic Places. Kafka was an ironclad original Idaho Territory who died in 1933 at “Polly shines a light on a sad and who made his bones and a boatload the age of 80, who shadows The Poker little-explored experience about of shekels around the corner from Bride as the California Gold Rush the way the Chinese were treated the AP office on “The Block” before and its aftermath drive the story. in the West,” says Corbett. “In the a heart attack took him in 1986. “We do not have anyone else like end, it was all a melancholy tale.” “Here is a big difference between Polly – period. Hers is as much of a now and then,” says Corbett. “Polock story as we have that is also true about UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

How UMBC is pushing the frontiers of research and training in cyber security – and keeping its own networks safe from attacks. By Joab Jackson ’90 Photo Illustrations by Aaron Goodman www.umbc.edu/magazine

31 UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

32 efending UMBC from web be led to a fake Web site and unwittingly attacks is a more than a full-time submit their passwords and other Djob. It’s a 24/7/365 undertaking. information. The spammers could Earlier this year, for instance, Mike then log into these user accounts and Carlin ’96, biological sciences, Ph.D. send out millions of spam messages ’09 information systems, was driving to the rest of the cybersphere. to New York. UMBC’s assistant vice Carlin and his department responded president of Infrastructure and Support swiftly. First, they alerted all UMBC paused to check his Blackberry at a rest e-mail account holders about the stop in New Jersey when he received what fake notices, and followed up with a looked to be an official UMBC e-mail, campus-wide blog post providing more informing him that his UMBC account information. They also blocked the Web password was about to expire, and that he address of the fake UMBC log-on, so should log in and re-register immediately. people on campus couldn’t access the The missive had a UMBC logo. site – and alerted the university’s help And the link at the bottom of the desk to respond to incoming inquiries. page seemingly took the recipient For Carlin and his colleagues in to a UMBC Web site. But Carlin, the university’s Office of Information who oversees network security at the Technology, this sort of fakery is university, would have known if there nothing new. But each new attack was system-wide reset of passwords. is a bit more sophisticated than The spammers had sent their e-mail the one before, and each round of to one of the people at UMBC who potentially devastating e-mails is more knew definitively that it was a fake. polished and more personalized. But Carlin also knew that thousands of “This has been going on throughout other UMBC faculty, staff and students higher education,” said Jack Suess ’81 who likely got identical phony mathematics, M.S. ’95 operations dispatches might not analysis, vice president of information know. Some technology and chief information officer would take at UMBC. Suess and others in the the bait, division acknowledge that spammers see higher education as a prime target. Universities have open networks. They have good bandwidth. Universities also boast powerful servers and a fresh crop of new students each year who may know little of the spammers’ scheming ways. The payoff for such scams can be immense. Andy Johnston, network security coordinator for UMBC, discovered that in one case alone, over six million e-mails were sent from a single account. It’s very doubtful that this was a legitimate use of this account, he adds. www.umbc.edu/magazine

MBC is not alone in battling electronic intruders seeking Uprofit, secure data, or even a bit of mischief. Network security has become a key demand for almost every organization – and the stakes for getting it right only grow. As knowledge and the economy become more global and more connected via the Web, organizations and individuals grow increasingly reliant on computers for essential tasks such as online banking, fellow researchers from the Massachusetts shopping, and even basic information. Institute of Technology, George Computer security has assumed a Washington University, the University more critical role in civilization. of Ottawa and Waterloo University have The good news is that UMBC is all pitched in to try and make it a reality. playing offense as well as defense in this “The reason voting is hard is that you increasingly critical arena. The university must have both outcome integrity and also helps government, business and ballot privacy,” Sherman says. “If you other organizations keep the bad guys at drop either one of those constraints bay through research and training that it becomes easier,” Sherman said. provide expertise and tools to secure the In a functioning democracy, online world today and in the future. no one wants to make the choice The nascent but growing practice between getting the count right and of electronic voting is just such a the right to cast one’s vote privately frontier. The benefits are manifold: ease, in the sanctity of the ballot box. But expense, speed of counting and even Sherman and his fellow researchers the potential to increase turnout by think they’ve cracked the problem. Last allowing voting from one’s computer or November, they tested Scantegrity – a phone. The downside, however, is that prototype electronic voting system – in the integrity of democracy demands Takoma Park in a local election. that the system be foolproof. Every For a voter in Takoma Park or participant must have absolute faith that elsewhere, Scantegrity works almost the the system is immune to fraud. Witness same as any other optical scan ballot. the furor over the hanging chads in Voters mark choices by filling in bubbles the 2000 U.S. presidential election. on a printed form, which are then UMBC associate professor of scanned into a machine for tabulation. computer science Alan Sherman has What’s different, however, is that the been part of an effort to create such a voter casts a vote with a special pen that foolproof electronic voting tabulation holds invisible ink. A pen stroke reveals system. Noted cryptologist David Chaum a unique code in the bubble where the originated the idea, and Sherman and mark was made. The voter can write UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

34 down the code on a receipt. Later, in the were being attacked by computers in privacy of their home, the voter can check China, putting the search service we the code on a Web site to verify that a use every day at risk of being disrupted. vote with this code has been tallied. Google’s corporate officers weren’t The code doesn’t reveal the the only ones who were alarmed; U.S. nature of the vote; only that it was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also properly counted. Through the use of pressed the Chinese government for an encryption, voting officials and even explanation for the apparent attack. third parties can audit the integrity Though the ultimate creators of the of the vote count without revealing Google attacks remain hidden in the personal details – an approach murk of cyberspace, the message is known as zero-knowledge proof. clear – aggression can be unleashed in About 66 of the 1,700 Takoma Park virtual space as well as in real space. And the effects can be nearly as devastating. “As the most wired nation on Earth, we offer the most targets of significance, yet our cyber defenses are woefully lacking,” wrote ex-National Security Agency (NSA) director Mike McConnell in a recent opinion piece in The Washington Post. UMBC is lending a hand in this battle, as well. Though the university does presently offer a specialized degree in computer security, Sherman says that the fundamentals it teaches its students should give future security professionals the solid basis in computer science which will allow them to quickly formulate voters who used the system checked knowledgeable responses to future threats. their votes online. The next step is to try “Computer science is evolving the system state-wide, Sherman says. very rapidly,” said Sherman. “It is very important that our priorities are on the oting is just one aspect of fundamental skills and teaching students modern life that is being moved how to learn to keep up with things.” Vinto the electronic realm. A UMBC education in computer Banking, health records, online shopping, science also offers students interested education and official record-keeping all in the battlefields of cyberspace some have moved into the realm of cyberspace. experience with what may await them. So it’s not surprising that the federal Sherman is also the director for the government sees network security as a UMBC Center for Information matter of national security, and believes Security and Assurance, which seeks to that attacks on our networks will be bring together the best cyber security thought of as acts of war in the future. practices from across the school’s Recently the search engine company different academic disciplines. Google found that its own servers One of the center’s programs is the www.umbc.edu/magazine

Cyber Defense Meade. Among those reassigned This certification will allow the center Lab, which was set will be those who will need to to develop educational materials more up with the help defend the country on its specific to military cyber defense. of a grant from the computer networks, both “We can really dive into addressing Defense Department. public and private. And what is the mission you are ultimately The lab runs a last December, the state trying to accomplish, not just what mobile cyber defense of Maryland awarded skills you need,” adds Malwitz. exercise. Thirty UMBC an $83,000 grant The UMBC Training Centers are laptops are loaded to help train this workforce. also gaining valuable input in this on a cart, which can The university will use the effort from a security advisory group be wheeled around money to set up a Center made up of members of some of the from classroom for Cyber Security Training largest Defense Department agencies to classroom. On the laptops as an extension of UMBC’s and contractors who work closely are pre-configured scenarios Training Centers. The centers with them – including Lockheed covering many of the typical already offer technical, scientific Martin and Northrop Grumman. attacks of the day: buffer overflows and professional non-degree training These days, such specified help is and wireless intrusions. The students programs to working professionals – and sorely needed. The military has a long work through the exercises to get a even specialized programs in information backlog of workers who need to get better feel of how to handle an attack. security and “ethical hacking.” security clearances. So those who do “Students learn more efficiently The new grant money will go have them need to be trained on the when they are in more hands-on towards expanding those offerings and latest cyber-security measures. Right exercises,” says Sherman. developing 15 new programs that will now, one contractor will pilfer workers UMBC students are also motivated meet the specific needs of the NSA from another contractor, which keeps enough to find those experiences for and Defense Department, says Kent the entire U.S. military and security themselves. A group of undergraduates Malwitz ’92, information systems, establishment weaker as a whole. recently created a team to compete in vice president of the UMBC Training Whether it is cyber warfare, various intercollegiate cyberwarfare Centers. Some courses will be taught at electronic voting or just making sure competitions. Teams are assessed on UMBC. Others will be designed to allow a university’s networks stay up so its their ability to reduce vulnerabilities employers the chance to offer the courses students can continue to learn, the to cyber attacks and to keep systems at their offices or other remote sites. message is clear: Cyber security is running, and UMBC’s contingent Already about 25 percent of the becoming an increasingly vital part of took first place overall in the qualifying courses taught at the center are the nation’s well-being. And UMBC rounds of the 5th Mid-Atlantic Regional cyber security related. Thanks to this is making sure that its students and the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. grant, that number will increase. larger community have the tools and “You will see thousands of people expertise to meet the challenges ahead. roximity is also a UMBC coming into the area, people coming advantage. The university out of the military and looking to Pis close to the headquarters get retrained with the G.I. Bill and of the National Security Agency then go back into careers in the (NSA) – an agency which is on the computer field – those will all be front lines of the cyber battlefield. big drivers for us,” says Malwitz. The federal government’s Base In order to train the most pertinent Realignment and Closure (BRAC) plan personnel – those on the front lines is helping to settle an influx of 60,000 of cyber warfare – the center is also military people moving into the area to undergoing a certification process set up work at the U.S. Army’s Fort George G. by the Department of Defense (DOD). UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

36 HOW TO How To Give a Dawg a Facelift With Jim Lord, Design Director, Creative Services

They say you can’t teach an old dog new So, Lord started looking closely at the tricks, but how about an old Dawg? mascots of other universities and major sports teams. As a designer, he noticed As universities change, mascots evolve some major trends – colorization along with them, and so it goes for True Grit techniques, letter blocking, etc. – and as this summer with the rollout of a brand-new an alum himself, he thought about ways look, as voted upon by more than 2,500 of spinning the personality of the kind students, faculty, staff and alumni. and loyal Chesapeake Bay Retriever into something fierce enough to put some scare Creating a new athletics mascot for UMBC into the opposing teams’ gym shorts. was more than a simple point of pride for Design Director Jim Lord ’99, visual arts – Step 2: it was a matter of keeping up with the big A lot of barks boys of university athletics. As designer (and a little bite) of the latest and most recent athletics True Grit has not always looked like True mascots, Lord was perhaps the biggest critic Grit. In fact, the dawg has morphed over of his past work – and one of the biggest the years at least five times, shifting from a proponents of change. pointer and then semi-humanoid basketball Tools of the Trade dribbler in the 1970s, to a curly-haired 1. Paper and pencil…and a sweetheart with a shield (early 1990s) or good recycling bin. Step 1: Maryland flag-inspired banner (late 1990s), 2. Adobe Illustrator and Sniff around to find out to the dark and toothy version of the early PhotoShop software…who who’s top dog 2000s, which Lord designed. knew puppies could be so For Lord, seeing the Retrievers men’s That’s why getting folks’ opinions was high-tech? basketball team advance to the courts of the such a big part of the process, Lord said. 3. Plenty of Scooby snacks… 2008 NCAA tournament – and comparing As he made the rounds of focus groups designing is tough work! the Dawgs’ 10-year-old athletic mascot to with athletes, students, faculty, staff and that of their opponents, the Georgetown alumni, he discovered (surprise!!) that Hoyas, on the national stage – was enough people sometimes got a bit worked up to spark the first conversation about a about their favorites. mascot facelift. “It was a lot of fun finding out people’s opinions…that’s what we really did right this time,” said Lord. “We involved athletes and coaches and students and alums.”

“We didn’t match up to our competitors,” he said. “In fact, we seemed kind of dated and flat in comparison.” www.umbc.edu/magazine

Step 3: Step 4: Now What? Try, Try Again Let the dogs out So how exactly does a Just like a university athletics tourney, it university roll out a new was suddenly down to the final, um, three. mascot? Which, for Lord, meant hitting the streets 1. True Grit in the Bookstore once again for feedback from the coaches, and The Commons: With the athletes – and just about everyone else each new school year, the in the UMBC universe. campus bookstore orders “A lot of people needed to see it. They new t-shirts, sweats and couldn’t always necessarily tell you what other Dawg merchandise. they want, but they could definitely tell you Expect to see the new what they didn’t want once they saw it.” Retriever logo in the store During Homecoming weekend, Lord and starting May 12 – the same fellow staff manned a voting station, where day The Commons will alums and students could choose their unveil a ginormous new favorite. Soon after, an online poll was Dawg on the walls of the posted on myUMBC. With more than Sports Zone. 2,500 votes by students, faculty, staff and 2. True Grit on the Record: alumni, UMBC had an overwhelming As the department of winner: one described by several alumni as athletics updates its web “solemn,” “proud” and “strong.” and stationery, the dawg “I like it,” said Lord. “Times change, and will become a presence Over the course of half a year, Lord drew trends change. I think we fit in a lot better on both. more than thirty different versions of with our competitors now.” 3. True Grit in the RAC: the dog. Some had squinched eyes and Slowly, but surely, the new snarling teeth. Some went heavy on — Jenny O’Grady dawg will be replaced on the Chesapeake Bay Retriever curl. Or the walls and seating of the detailed muzzle and nose. Some, Lord Retriever Activities Center. tossed as soon as he drew them. “For every couple that saw the light of day in the focus groups, there were four or five that I just said ‘No, that’s not cutting it’ – so I scrapped them,” he said. “There’s a fine line between realistic and cartoonish,” said Lord, who keeps some of his original pencil drawings on the board near his desk. “For a while, it seemed like no matter what I came up with, it still looked like a cartoon. What we really See a complete history of UMBC’s athletics needed was something more stylized.” logos online at www.umbc.edu/magazine. UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

38 CLASS NOTES

Most members of the UMBC community who drive between the university’s main campus and its south campus don’t know that they’re passing a bit of Baltimore’s cultural and religious history along the way. Tucked on a hill near south campus is the motherhouse of the Oblate Sisters of Providence – a Catholic religious community founded in the United States by women of African descent.

During her studies at UMBC, Sharon Knecht ’99 and ’03 M.A., history, became involved in helping the Oblates tell their uniquely American story. In the following essay, Knecht shares her experience as an archivist with the order: Members of the Oblate Sisters of Providence (OSP) have lived in the Baltimore suburbs surrounding UMBC since the 1930s, decades before the university itself arrived on the scene. As a longtime resident, I knew that this order of women religious of African descent existed here. I would see them from time to time— in the local shops or in the post office—and wonder about them. Eight years ago, however, I was led, through God’s providence, to become part of the OSP’s extended family. The master of arts degree in historical studies at UMBC requires students to complete two internships. Among the possibilities offered to me for an internship was working in the archives of the Oblate Sisters of Providence—and the chance to satisfy my curiosity about these nuns. I called the order’s archivist, Sr. Reginald Gerdes, OSP, and applied for the post. Her acceptance of my application in 2002 commenced an amazing journey which continues to this day. www.umbc.edu/magazine

The order of the Oblate Sisters of century photographs that document the Providence is the oldest order of women lives and labor of African-Americans. The order of the Oblate religious of African descent in the world. The second is an impressive collection of Father James Joubert, a French-born eight 19th century needlework samplers Sisters of Providence Sulpician priest, and Mother Mary Lange, created by African American schoolgirls. a West Indies immigrant, created the new The conservation and preservation is the oldest order group in 1829 in Baltimore with a mandate of both collections became my highest of women religious of to teach and care for African-American priority. In 2003, I began writing grant children. The Oblates opened their first proposals to the National Publications African descent in the school, St. Frances Academy, in 1828, and and Records Commission to request it is the oldest continuously operating funding to create an electronic finding world. black Catholic school in the United States. aid and a searchable database of archival From this humble beginning, the images. I also pursued and won permission addition on the motherhouse property Oblate Sisters of Providence grew from the Oblate Council to assemble to house the elderly and infirm sisters, into a community of over 350 sisters a book to tell the order’s story using the Oblates moved forward and found who served in the order’s missions photographs from the collection. With new and different ways to support their in eighteen states, several Caribbean preliminary funding from actor Bill needs and serve their community. countries and Nigeria. Over the past Cosby and his wife, Camille, I selected If the history contained in the archives 180 years the order’s members have 250 images and secured a publisher for where I work every day tells us anything, served their communities by creating Oblate Sisters of Providence: A Pictorial it is that struggles and challenges are not and maintaining schools and orphanages History, which was published in 2007 and new to the Oblates. That same history also and providing other social services. is close to selling out its second printing. reveals that hard work and a belief in God’s The archives of the order are located at Saving the eight schoolgirl samplers providence can see the order through this the Oblate Sisters’ motherhouse, which for future generations was also a priority. crisis as it has so many times before in the is adjacent to UMBC’s South Campus. Through generous donations from Oblates’ 180 years of caring and service. It is a repository for a variety of invaluable needlework guild and private donors, historical materials about the Roman all the samplers are stabilized, encased in Catholic Church in the United States: archival cartons, and stored in climate- organizational records, Catholic African- and-humidity-controlled conditions. American periodicals and newspapers and My relationship with the Oblates over 600 rare books dating from the late has continued long past my internship, 1600s to the 1840s. The collection also and has blossomed into a career and a includes a variety of materials detailing vocation. My work at the motherhouse the Oblates’ activities in their missions includes helping the Oblate sisters throughout the United States, Central with their computers and marketing America and Cuba. These manuscripts items on the community’s website. have been useful to a variety of academic, Over the years, the number of sisters religious and local history scholars, as in the order has dwindled to 75 women. well as genealogists and students. But though their numbers are diminished, Taken together, the collection is an the members of the Oblate community’s amazing treasure trove. But two elements faith, and strength, and determination of it grabbed my attention from my first to do the will of God have not faltered. days working in the archives. The first is When the recent financial crisis an extensive collection of 19th and 20th interrupted construction of a new UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

40 UMBC Class Notes is compiled by UMBC Magazine staff from items submitted online and by mail by alumni, 1976 1983 as well as from news articles and press Reva Damir (Janine Brager), American William Frederick Meinecke, Jr., history, releases received by the University. studies has studied alternative healing practices was a featured speaker at an Advanced Holocaust This edition of Class Notes contains since moving to the exquisitely beautiful Central Symposium sponsored by the University information processed by April 1, 2010. California coast in 1977. “Before having a hip of Miami’s School of Education and that replacement in 2007, I was introduced to the university’s Sue and Leonard Miller Center for How to Submit Class Notes Arthritis Foundation Aquatic Program (AFAP). Contemporary Judaic Studies in February. After CLASS NOTES CLASS Subsequently, I became a certified instructor and taking an M.A., and Ph.D. in history from the The deadline for submitting Class Notes for the have been teaching these classes since 2009,” she University of Maryland at College Park, he joined next print issue of is August UMBC Magazine writes. In March 2009, she received a certification the staff of the Wexner Learning Center of the 1, 2010. We cannot guarantee the publication to teach Tai Chi for Arthritis, developed by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum of class notes received after the deadline as Dr. Paul Lam, a family practice physician from in 1992. In June 2000, Meinecke joined the staff production schedules and resources require Sydney Australia and an Olympic gold medal of the museum’s education division. For the last strict deadline compliance. Notes may be winner in Tai Chi. She adds that “I was privileged seven years, he has worked with law enforcement submitted online at www.umbc.edu/magazine to participate in a weekend intensive with him on officers, judges, prosecutors and attorneys in the or by mail at: – Class Notes, UMBC Magazine one of the rare occasions that he’s held a workshop Law Enforcement and Society: Lessons of the Alumni House, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, in California.” She now teaches several classes a Holocaust training program. He currently works MD 21250. week to an enthusiastic group who appreciate the in the National Institute for Holocaust Education Photo Guidelines benefit of this ancient art form which has been on Holocaust education for adult professionals. adapted for health and healing. His book, Nazi Ideology and the Holocaust, was Digital photos should be taken on the highest- published by the museum in December 2007. quality setting. They should be 4 x 6 inches or James Richardson, biological sciences, larger and 300 dpi. Save the attachment as a joined St. Agnes Hospital (“Just down Wilkens TIFF or JPEG. Questions? Please e-mail to Avenue,” he writes) as Chief of Geriatric [email protected]. Medicine in September 2008. He works with older adults with problems such as Alzheimer’s 1986 disease and other dementias, weight loss and Laura DeMent Riley, social work, was depression. He lives in Ellicott City. recently promoted to the Deputy Director of the Baltimore County Department of Aging. 1970 She has been with the agency since graduating Larry Stauffer, history, retired from the Social from UMBC 24 years ago. Security Administration in 2002. He now works part-time at Catonsville Community College in 1980 Patrick J. Kelly, M.S., molecular and the bursar’s office. He enjoys playing golf, singing Kathleen Warnock, interdisciplinary applied biology, is a partner in the patents and (choral and solo), attending plays and seeing his studies, has taken over as editor of the “Best life sciences/technology practices at the law grandchildren. He has been married for 45 years Lesbian Erotica” series from Cleis Press. Her firm Ballard Spahr. He has been appointed to to Carol, who is a retired elementary school plays have been produced in New York, the advisory board of the Wallace H. Coulter teacher. His daughter, Jill Rose, American Boston, Minneapolis and Provincetown. She is Department of Biomedical Engineering studies, was a member of UMBC’s Class of 1996. playwrights company manager for Emerging (BME) at Georgia Institute of Technology Artists Theatre, and curates the Robert and Emory University. Chesley/Jane Chambers Playwrights Project for TOSOS Theatre. She is an editor forFrommer’s Carol Davis Yates, computer science, Travel Guides. received her master’s degree in systems 1972 engineering in spring 2009 from the Whiting Frank Porter, history, retired after directing School of Engineering at The Johns Hopkins the American Indian Research and Resource University. She is a systems engineer in that Institute. He is the general editor of The Indians university’s Applied Physics Lab. of North America published by Chelsea House 1981 and was the author of two books in the series. Debora Fajer-Smith, political science, was He is also the author of several books on the principal of the law offices of Debora Fajer- topics of Indians in the eastern United States, Smith LLC for 22 years. Recently, she merged American Indian basketry and American Indian that practice with the firm of Joseph, Greenwald, 1988 policy. Since retiring, he owns and operates and Laake, PA in Greenbelt. Fajer-Smith was Robert Adams, Sr., mechanical Porterbrook Native Plants in southern Ohio and named one of the Top 100 Woman in Maryland engineering and ’95, M.S., engineering writes a monthly garden column, “A View From by The Daily Record in 2007, and she was also management, recently passed the Maryland the Garden.” recognized as one of the top women business Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation leaders in Maryland in The Gazette of Politics Professional Engineers examination. He works and Business. as a systems engineer at Northrop Grumman, and is proud that his son, Robert Adams, Jr. ’08, information systems, graduated with a 4.0 in his senior year at UMBC. www.umbc.edu/magazine

41 Keith Rathbun, information systems management, has been named associate director of health research systems at Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan THE MATTER OF MIND research firm. He will supervise and mentor the research systems analysts in the Washington, biology. UMBC and the Honors Program also D.C., office of the firm’s health division. He lives gave him early chances to acquire leadership in Olney. skills as the student representative on curricular committees, where he remembers that campus leaders were eager to hear student points of view. “I remember sitting around a table with department chairs,” says Thompson, “and saying to myself: ‘They actually care what I think.’” 1990 But it was the study of the human brain that Joyce Derby, M.A., community clinical most fascinated Thompson as an undergraduate. psychology and ’93, Ph.D. human services And when he finally settled on pursuing that psychology, had an article, “Reflections on a study via a career in medicine, Honors Program Career in Public Mental Health,” published in assistant director Barbara Ireland (whom Thompson cites as a key mentor) arranged The Maryland Psychologist. for Thompson to work in The Johns Hopkins University laboratory of one of America’s leading neuroscientists, Joseph T. Coyle, who eventually left Hopkins to become Eben S. Draper Chair of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Harvard Medical 1991 School. An undergraduate’s path to a career as a When Reid Thompson ’85, biological neurosurgeon began to open up. Dennis Gallagher, mathematics, moved sciences, was named chairman of Vanderbilt The lure of neurosurgery, says Thompson, is back to Southern California after graduation University’s Department of Neurological Surgery the chance to work closely with the brain itself and attended law school. After ten years this past fall, it was yet another big step forward on a daily basis. “To be in an operating room and working as a patent attorney in the law firms on a road that began at UMBC. see the human brain is an unforgettable thing The recipient of the Outstanding Alumnus of O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Crowell & the first time you see it,” Thompson recalls. “As in Natural and Mathematical Sciences in 2008, Moring LLP, he moved to Conexant Systems, a neurosurgeon, every day I get to see the brain. Thompson credits UMBC with giving him a Inc. in Newport Beach, CA, where he serves as Neurosurgeons get to feel the human brain, and wide-ranging store of knowledge that has helped marvel at it.” intellectual property counsel. to shape him as a surgeon, a researcher and an Thompson took his medical degree from administrator. Hopkins in 1989. In his career, Thompson has “One of the things I learned at UMBC was excelled as a surgeon, a researcher, and an a different way of looking at the world,” says administrator. An expert in surgical treatments Thompson. “A broad way of looking at the world for patients with complex brain and spinal cord that comes from liberal education.” tumors, Thompson was recruited to Vanderbilt Thompson’s encounters with the broader by George S. Allen, chairman of the university’s Mina Cheon ’02, M.F.A., imaging and world began before UMBC. He came to university neurological surgery department, to become both digital arts, published a book, Shamanism & from Deerfield Academy, a New England prep vice chairman of the university’s neurological Cyberspace, with Atropos Press. school, and he had spent a good amount of time surgery department and the head of its Brain in his teenage years in Indonesia and elsewhere Tumor Center. When Allen retired late last year, in Asia, where his father was working as a plant Thompson was promoted to chairman of the geneticist. department. He was planning on attending Emory University Thompson admits that juggling surgery, when his parents – who had relocated to research and administration is not always the Maryland – asked him to consider a school closer easiest of tasks. “For a surgeon,” he says, “there’s to home. UMBC’s fledgling Honors Program – always a gravitational pull to the operating room.” now the Honors College – was one attraction. But his opportunities to develop as a But it was a prominent reminder of Indonesia researcher and an academic leader have led in the form of UMBC’s Gamelan Angklung – an him to discover that “I can see a larger picture. ensemble that played traditional Indonesian music I’m seeing what it means to have your imprint – that really sealed the deal. on a department, and on a new generation of “I told Honors Program assistant director neurosurgeons.” Barbara Ireland that I’d spent time in Thompson insists that his experiences at Indonesia,” says Thompson, “and she said that UMBC – the study of liberal arts as well as there was a really interesting guy at UMBC named sciences – have also influenced his view of what’s Mantel Hood, who ran the ethnomusicology needed to excel as a neurosurgeon. “You need to program. And Mantel had been the first person master a certain technical level of skill to do what to bring the Indonesian Gamelan to this country we do,” he says. “But I think there’s more to it – first at UCLA and then at UMBC. It was one of than that. There’s talking to patients about what the only Indonesian Gamelans in the country. At could be potentially a fatal diagnosis. Caring for UMBC. I had studied Gamelan in Indonesia, so it patients in a meaningful way requires more than seemed like the stars were aligning.” technical skill.” Thompson recalls that he was a student with a taste for philosophy and literature as well as — Richard Byrne ’86 UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

42 1992 FIRST OF THE FAB FOURS Debbie Jordan Kravitz, psychology, just published her first book,Everything I Know about on the American novel, and a class focusing on Perfectionism I Learned from My Breasts: Secrets social psychology. and Solutions for Overpowering Perfectionism. “My classes dealt not only with subject matter, (www.MalizaPublishing.com). The book is based but also issues, real issues that were stirring on her experiences as a “recovering” perfectionist CLASS NOTES CLASS in all of us during the ’60s,” she said. “I was and young breast cancer survivor, as well as the being confronted with complex questions which detailed stories and interviews of fellow lifelong demanded soul-searching answers. No longer perfectionists. She writes: “Readers will discover: could I just absorb material and spit it back on a test. I was being forced (sometimes dragged) into Why perfectionists do what they do, the negative thinking critically.” and sometimes secret consequences of living a Many of UMBC’s earliest grads – sometimes ‘perfect’ life, life-changing ‘a-ha’ moments from referred to as “The Fab Four” – speak wistfully of recovering perfectionists, solutions and strategies the university’s first days and the “three buildings for overpowering your own perfectionism or and a pile of mud” at the center of what was helping the perfectionists in your life recover.” She originally an orchard. Mayne recalls a similar is the founder of Virtually Organized by Debbie landscape – one of pure potential, as much for intellectual philosophy as bricks and mortar. LLC, a professional organizing service. Her “I would arrive on campus at 7 a.m. You’d have husband is Daniel Kravitz ’93, economics. the fog lying on the hill and I swear you’d see deer crossing,” she said. “It was really quite wild…It’s Amy Young-Buckler, history, and her husband, , When Robin Keller Mayne ’69, American so hard (now) to imagine it was ever like that.” John Buckler ’93, ancient studies studies, graduated from UMBC, she wore no Following graduation, Mayne left her native welcomed their first child, Cooper James robes and no mortarboard. There was no crowd Maryland. She worked in Nashville as a Head Buckler, on October 22, 2009. to cheer her across the stage. In fact, there was Start teacher, then moved to Germany with her no stage. first husband. She also made a stop in Missoula, It was 1969, just three years after the before arriving in Fort Worth, where she started a university opened its doors, and one year before career in information technology and made a life its first official commencement ceremony. So with her current husband, Jim. “Nobody had degrees in computing or IT then,” 1993 instead of publicly turning a tassel – or even Kendra Y. Ausby, political science, was giving much thought to her pioneer status in she said. “They’d determine you had an aptitude UMBC’s history – Mayne quietly collected her for it, and then they’d train you.” appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley as books and resumed her daily life as a mother and A few years later, in 1991, Mayne earned a trial court judge in the Circuit Court for teacher. her master’s degree in software design and Baltimore City in January. She will leave her “I feel as though it was just an accident that development from Texas Christian University. And position as principal counsel for the Courts I was UMBC’s first graduate. It just happened,” more than twenty years after her departure from and Judicial Affairs Division of the Maryland said Mayne, who now lives in Fort Worth, Texas, her first alma mater, the mother of two finally got to turn her tassel. Office of the Attorney General. She joined the where she works as fleet administrator for Jacobs Office of the Attorney General in 2001 and Engineering. “For a while I was neck and neck “I got to walk across the stage and do the spent several years representing Maryland’s with another girl… but I finished classes in whole nine yards.” December 1968, and that was that.” — Jenny O’Grady Department of Juvenile Services. Ausby Mayne began her undergraduate study at graduated from the University of Baltimore the University of Maryland at Baltimore, then School of Law, and she began her career as an transferred to the brand-new UMBC in 1966 assistant public defender in Baltimore City. in order to attend daytime classes. With her daughter in daycare, Mayne commuted to UMBC, Bruce Platter, information systems working part-time as an administrative assistant management, is a senior project manager for in what was then known as the social sciences the legal publisher BNA. He is also chairman of department. She made coffee and typed syllabi for professors – many of whom were not much older the board of the BNA Federal Credit Union, an than their students. organization with which he has been involved “Some of my dearest memories are from since 2005. He is happily married with two kids working there,” said Mayne, who was drawn and lives in Dunn Loring, VA. in by the spirit of intellectual curiosity on the new campus. “It was the ’60s – everyone was questioning everything. Our professors were so young and excited. They pushed us. They didn’t want you to just accept what anyone told you.” 1994 Without a true student union – or even a Darlene Spitzer Antezana, M.A., history, separate library – UMBC’s first 700 or so students hung out in the cafeteria, discussing their classes received her Ph.D. in history from Morgan State across disciplines. Mayne’s favorites? A course University in December 2009. She is an associate discussing “The God is Dead Movement,” another A shot of Mayne from the 1969 Skipjack yearbook. professor in the history department at Prince George’s Community College. www.umbc.edu/magazine

43 Alan Aymie, theatre, lives in Beverly Hills, CA, where he is focusing his efforts on writing for performance. His writing credits include Songs My Father Taught Me (Ensemble Theater Company), Child’s Play (HBO Comedy Arts Festival), Rap and Rats (Zephyr Theater), Prepare for Take-Off (Univ. of Iowa short play competition), Old Man of the Mountain (LA Playwrights Festival) and the short film,Passion of the Couch (Portland Film Festival). 1995 Kathryn Seifert Ph.D., human services psychology, had an article, “Sustaining High Quality Mental Health Services in a Rural Area,” published in The Maryland Psychologist.

1996 Former UMBC faculty member Jaromir Stephany passed away on April 14. An exhibit of his work, Greg Cangialosi, English, is CEO of the Music of the Mind: Jaromir Stephany Photographs and Digital Images, is on display in the Albin O. Baltimore-based email service provider Blue Sky Kuhn Library Gallery until June 30. Factory, which was recently named as a Future 50 company Baltimore SmartCEO magazine. The award recognizes the 50 fastest-growing companies in the Greater Baltimore area based 1997 1999 on employee and revenue growth. Lekelia Jenkins, biological sciences, Kelly Strain Simer, geography, welcomed was recently selected as one of only twelve her new baby, Olivia, on December 30, 2009. Nefertiti Harmon Durant, interdisciplinary scholars to attend the “Workshop for the Next Olivia joins her two big sisters, Payton and , recently published three papers on studies Generation of Science and Technology Policy Delaney. Simer is a senior academic advisor childhood obesity, including one in The Journal of Leaders.” The workshop was held in conjunction at UMBC. . School Health with the Conference on the Rightful Place of Science, held at Arizona State University in May. 2000 Julie Ann Krause, political science, is a 1998 human resources generalist at AJ Oster, LLC. Erin Barata Ouslander ’03, visual arts, and Steven Fischer, visual and performing She recently earned her certification as a Senior Matthew Ouslander ’01, information systems, arts, was recently named to the The Daily Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), welcomed their daughter, Olive Mae, on Record’s 2010 list of “Influential Marylanders.” A which is awarded by the HR Certification December 3, 2009. Baltimore native, Fischer is a two-time Emmy Institute after passing a rigorous examination Award nominated writer-producer-director demonstrating a mastery of the body of of films such asSilence of Falling Leaves (2000), knowledge in the field. Draw the Line (2006), and Freedom Dance (2007). He has made films on diverse topics which Regina Macatangay, biological sciences, include the American Civil War, AmeriCorps, completed a pediatrics residency at the and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. He is University of Maryland Hospital for Children currently in production on an educational last year. She is about to complete her chief documentary about creativity featuring the residency year and will begin a fellowship in six-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer, pediatric hematology/oncology at Memorial William A. Fraker. Sloan-Kettering Hospital in July.

Rick Kemp, English, has been promoted to Associate Professor at University of Maryland University College, and was elected to Kappa Delta Pi – an educators honor society. He and his wife Tabitha are enjoying their first child, Tristen Sawyer Kemp. UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

44 Andy Glass, financial economics, married Megan Lynam on October 31, 2009 in North 2001 Wales, PA. They live in Philadelphia, PA. He is 2008 Adam Mondschein, acting, has performed in a credit officer in PNC Bank’s healthcare and Peter Baenziger, bioinformatics and Shakespeare companies across the country and public finance division. His wife is a Philadelphia computational biology, received his M.S. been on stages around the world. He is currently University graduate and a commercial interior in biology from Purdue University in May pursuing an M.F.A. in acting at UCLA. designer. Four members of the wedding party, 2009. He now studies medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. including groomsmen Christopher Orr ’05, financial economics, and Peter Jansen ’05, CLASS NOTES CLASS Laurel Haac, theatre, interned with Nana , bridesmaid economics Ashley Zupan ’05, Projects, a Baltimore-based puppet company , and ceremony reader 2002 English Michael Cox specializing in large parade puppets, after attended UMBC. Kevin Beck, biological sciences, earned his graduation. In September 2009, Laurel began her Ph.D. from the University of California Irvine in studies as a M.F.A. candidate in the design for Mela Johnson, mechanical engineering, January 2009. recently completed her Ph.D. in bioengineering stage and film program at New York University. at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Mina Cheon, M.F.A., imaging and digital David Munford, history, just welcomed a arts, is a new media artist, writer, and educator second child, Benjamin Logan, to his family. He who divides her time between Baltimore, New works at the National Archives and Records York, and Seoul. She is currently a full-time Administration in College Park. professor at the Maryland Institute College of 2007 Art (MICA), teaching studio, new media, and Peter Quantock, ancient studies, works at liberal arts. She has also shown internationally, Gibb Archaeological Consulting. In the fall, with solo exhibitions at spaces including the he will pursue studies in the archaeology Lance Fung Gallery in New York (2002); Insa track of the University of Denver’s master’s in 2009 Chelsea Hayman, anthropology and Art Space, Arts Council, Seoul (2005); and C. anthropology program. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore (2008). Her sociology, is in the master’s degree program in cultural sustainability at Goucher College. She book, Shamanism + Cyberspace, was published last Maryann Salib, biochemistry and molecular is now examining that field from the perspective year by Atropos Press. biology, was the second author on a paper of institutional sustainability and how published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry. communication can be improved among non- Melissa Smith, political science, has worked as profit and community organizations. She plans the finance director for the Maryland Democratic to pursue a Ph.D. in social policy, she writes, “so I 2003 Party. She also worked at the 2008 Democratic can create concrete change in the communities Erin Barata Ouslander ’03, visual arts, National Convention in Denver, CO. Her sister, I have lived in.” and her husband, Matthew Ouslander ’01, Nicole Smith, is a student at UMBC. Melissa is information systems, celebrated the also a member of the Chapter of Young Alumni Saira Khan, English, has been regularly birth of their daughter, Olive Mae, on steering committee. contributing articles to the opinion pages of The December 3, 2009. Baltimore Sun from Karachi, Pakistan.

Freelance writer Elizabeth Heubeck ’91, English, Bill Shewbridge, ’80, history (director of 2004 UMBC’s New Media Studio) and Baltimore Sun reporter Jamie Smith Hopkins ’98, talk at a Audrey Simmons, interdisciplinary studies, panel on jobs in the news media during UMBC’s Career Week in March. is the executive director of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum of Maryland, which is located in the lower level of the Lochearn Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. The museum recently held its grand opening and hopes to bring to the public the story of the Negro Leagues, its history, the players and the game of baseball. 2005 Tom Briggs, psychology, published an article on health reform and employer-sponsored health insurance in the journal Health Affairs. He is a senior analyst at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. www.umbc.edu/magazine

45 Friends We Will Miss Alice Bloom, who taught in UMBC’s English Department from September 1971 through BROAD(MEAD) VISTAS IN AGING May 1974, passed away in December 2009. She also taught for many years at the University of Mondloch is now spearheading an Maine at Farmington. She had been a lively organization-wide initiative to adopt the and popular presence at both schools and a principles of “culture change,” a central champion of the arts and the life of the mind. philosophy at the Erickson School that emphasizes person-centered approaches to Lee Edward Goldman ’88, history, passed long-term care. For Broadmead, a continuous away on February 17, 2010. He was also care retirement community, the goal is to create deputy director of the Maryland Police and living environments that will provide a quality Correctional Training Commission. living experience that does not change when residents transition from independent living to assisted living or to nursing care. Tejal Khajuria ’07, social work, passed away “We’re trying to create equity within people’s on March 19, 2009. Her family has established experiences, remaining person-centered in the a scholarship in her memory. For more sense that where you live is not the primary driver information, see the Tejal Khajuria Memorial as to what your life experience is,” Mondloch said. Scholarship page on Facebook. This is being realized in 2010 by the conversion of the third floor of a community Eileen Marks ’71, social work, passed away residence building into 28 assisted-living on December 8, 2009. apartments with private bathrooms, bedrooms and living areas, walk-in closets, kitchenettes and Wallace McMillan, associate professor of stacked washer and dryers. “Not many graduate programs can boast such physics and director of the graduate program in a robust legacy and immediate impact right out atmospheric physics at UMBC, passed away on of the gate,” said Erickson School interim dean March 10, 2010. He taught at the university for Judah Ronch. “But this is exactly the kind of 16 years, and his research focused on measuring leadership development that the Erickson School products of fire – particularly carbon monoxide was designed to create.” The Erickson School’s masters program for the – as tracers of atmospheric pollution. The impetus for creating the Erickson Management of Aging Services (MAgS) counts School came from the shared vision of UMBC among its alumni professionals as diverse as President Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, and Erickson Joseph Patrick Quinn ’84, economics, lawyers, publishers, artists, nursing directors, and, passed away unexpectedly in Safety Harbor, FL Retirement Communities founder John Erickson. of course, seniors housing executives – hailing They recognized the significant societal shift that on December 31, 2009. from states as far away as Texas. would come with the impending retirement of the But one small retirement community in baby boom generation, nearly 80 million strong. Charles Skirven ’87, English, passed away on particular – Quaker-directed Broadmead in A donation of $5 million by Erickson and a Feb. 4, 2010, from melanoma cancer. He was 59 Cockeysville, Md. – dominates the school’s young matching grant from the state helped launch the years old. crop of alumni with seven graduates, including the Erickson School as an interdisciplinary program company’s CEO, Rich Compton ’08. intended to address every phase of aging in Jaromir (Jerry) Stephany, a member of the It started with Compton hiring fellow America through undergraduate, graduate and classmate, Diana Givens ’08, midway through Department of Visual Arts faculty since 1973, executive education programs integrating aging, the program to become Broadmead’s Director of policy and management. passed away on April 14. Stephany served as chair Community Excellence. Before even graduating of the department as it grew in the 1970s and The school currently enrolls 470 undergraduate in December 2008, Compton knew he wanted and 35 master’s degree students. Broadmead’s 1980s, and even after his retirement he continued the rest of his leadership team to enroll in the ties to the Erickson School also extend into the to teach at the university until 2009. His art Erickson School’s unique masters program undergraduate program with four UMBC students was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, integrating aging, policy and management. participating in Broadmead internships in the past the International Center of Photography, the “We needed to help all facets of the two years. Baltimore Museum of Art and the Smithsonian organization understand how managing aging services is no longer something that can be done — Kavan Peterson Institution, and work was published in nationally by people with just good intentions,” Compton circulating journals such as Popular Photography said. “The program opened my eyes to the and Aperture. An exhibit of his work, Music of the changing landscape of aging in America and the Mind: Jaromir Stephany Photographs and Digital need to adapt our business practices.” Images, is on display in the Albin O. Kuhn Library By December of 2009, the Erickson School Gallery until June 30 and an exhibit catalogue of graduated five more master’s degree alumni Stephany’s work is being prepared. associated with Broadmead, including the organization’s Associate CEO Tom Mondloch ’09, Resident Life Director Brenda Becker ’09, Rehab Director Charee Collins ’09, trust fund manager Elizabeth Shaughnessy ’09 and Board of Trustees member Bettie Farrar ’09. UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

46 THEN & NOW

Want to get a sense of the changes at UMBC over its four decades of existence? Map it out.

In 2010, the firm Ayers Saint Gross created a brand new map of the UMBC campus (right) that will replace the university’s current maps over the next few months. The Dining Hall (“True Grits”) and Susquehanna Hall are already on the The creation of a new campus map is a good occasion to look map, but even Chesapeake Hall is back at how UMBC mapped itself out in its earliest days. The still in the construction phase. campus map below was created in 1970, when UMBC had a total of 13 buildings and a half-finished loop.

We’ve also noted a few other differences. [1]

The road that will be known as Hilltop Circle is unfinished in 1970. Construction on its completion will begin in 1975.

[2]

Some notable UMBC buildings are just on the horizon in the map, labeled as “(under constr).” And [1] A former asylum for the criminally insane, the Hillcrest these are a cluster that will include Building was used as an administration building from the Administration Building, The Retriever earliest days of UMBC. It also housed a student bar called Activities Center and what is now the Ratskeller. It was demolished in 2007. Sondheim Hall.

[2] On the 1970 map, a body of water simply labeled “Lake” is now known as “Pig Pen Pond” – a nod to UMBC’s roots as a large farm. It is a key part of the Conservation and Environmental Research Areas (CERA) and is linked to campus with a new footpath. www.umbc.edu/magazine

[3] Erickson Hall was completed in 2000. It houses University Health Services and the Shriver Center’s Living/Learning Floor.

[3]

UMBC’s Stadium was added in 1976, and a dedicated facility for soccer followed in 1998. The latter facility has a Bermuda grass playing surface and state-of-the-art drainage and irrigation system.

[4]

[4] UMBC’s South Campus became part of the university in 1996. It houses bwtech@UMBC South, home of UMBC’s Training Center and Technology Center as well as other business incubators and accelerators – many with an emphasis on biotechnology. UMBC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2010

48 OVER COFFEE

the radio you could not do today. It was very unpolitically correct. It wasn’t risqué… Elliker: (Interrupts, with laughter.) Well, maybe it was a little bit…. Beller: I invited her to be on the show with me. Elliker: And I’d come over after ballet class and do the show. Beller: We just started coming up with bits. We had hilarious PSAs. (Laughs.) I don’t know if we’d want to mention some of them… Elliker: (Laughing.) No. And I was the station’s general manager, so if you weren’t going to get in trouble with me, you weren’t going to get in trouble. How formative of an experience was working at UMBC’s radio station in that era? Elliker: The only hands-on experience I got at UMBC was at the station…. As an Option II student, we didn’t have a chance to get our Shari Elliker ’83, interdisciplinary spark something in a lot of people up and hands on a lot of equipment – be it camera equipment or audio equipment. The courses studies, and Neil Beller ’83, down the East Coast. I used to come on were a lot of theory. Being at the radio interdisciplinary studies, spend and say, “What ails me?” And the phones station was really the place where we could Thursday mornings together on would light up. And people won’t have this conversation with you on a side street, but play house. Where we could pretend that we WBAL-AM in the glow of the “On were doing what we wanted to do. Air” sign, with Beller as a regular they will on the radio. weekly co-host on Elliker’s successful Elliker: Radio is an interesting medium Beller: There was no one standing over your AM talk radio show. – and especially talk radio – because it is shoulder. You had to watch what you said, unscripted. It is a very intimate medium. yes. But you could play what you wanted. Radio is a shared bond between People are talking directly to you. You have And have fun and do comedy. I would tell Elliker and Beller since they shared one instrument: your voice. That’s what Shari that I was going to the bathroom and the microphone on a popular program makes it so personal. In your car. I am talking then run out and call the station… on WMBC in the 1980s. An active to you. And it’s a big complement to be Elliker: The radio station was the single supporter of UMBC’s baseball team, invited into people’s car, or office or home. most valuable experience I had at UMBC. Beller is also an Emmy-winning editor and the president of Kit & Kaboodle What was having a radio show together at Beller: It had an almost “WKRP” feel to it. Productions. And in addition to The UMBC in the ’80s like? There were so many characters. And when Shari Elliker Show (which she has Beller: Shari and I have great chemistry. you didn’t have class, you could come hang hosted since 2007), Elliker is an actress Always have, always will. Sometimes listeners out at the station…. and an in-demand voice for narration, will ask if we work together, have dated, or Elliker: There were no fraternities, no commercials and other promotions were married. sororities. That was something that UMBC in the Baltimore-Washington area Elliker: We have that basis of resentment didn’t offer at that time. You had to make and elsewhere. there. You dated my roommate. (Laughter.) your own fun. Why does radio remain a vital medium? Beller: I was in the sports department — Richard Byrne ’86 Beller: When you express an opinion at WMBC, and I had my own show on on Shari’s show, you know it’s going to Wednesday night. The things I was doing on Whatever you choose to SUPPORT...

The UMBC community mourns the passing of Albin O. Kuhn (left), Your academic the university’s founding department chancellor. A single deserving student Courtesy of University Archives, 07 UMBC

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Albin O. Kuhn (1916-2010)

UMBC MAGAZINE Maryland, Baltimore County University of Circle 1000 Hilltop 21250 Baltimore, MD ALUMNI EVENTS ALUMNI